New Start Plus: in spaaaaace!

by omaster43

Nick Walters and his merry band of misfits are back with a story about helping Shepard and crew fight giant eldritch robot abominations, most likely through Dumb magic and crazy shenanigans This is a continuation of my previous story, so reading that one first is recommended. but I'm not your nanny you wanna be confused that's your choice. Oc-insert, just came from Dragon age

5. Chapter 5 Space Vegas

I don't own anything other than my OCs

Ch. 5

Space Vegas

-/-

Kasumi POV

I'm going to explode~.

"Here! This one is really good!" Jak shoved a cinnamon bun in my mouth, "It's good for the heart, and it soothes all your troubles."

"No, this one!" Julee called out shoving some pudding into my mouth after I swallowed the bun, "It relaxed the soul!"

"Here drink some milk that I blessed, it will heal your lactose intolerance," Sereda rushed over, hand serving me some milk.

"Ba~, food is nice but shiny metal makes the soul glow~," Sky called out, putting a crown made of solid gold and jewels on my melon, it felt like someone strapped a watermelon to my head, it was really pretty though, I'll definitely add it to my collection.

"Would you girls knock it off~," Nat came to my rescue, "She clearly needs something to keep warm." She put a huge sweater on me, it was clearly Sky's, before it magically shrunk to my size. It was nice.

"Nick, do something~" I hissed to the bastard who was just sitting across from me eating his cereal without a care in the world.

"Kasy, you're hurting, the man you love has been taken from you and just 4 days ago you were able to, with your own strength, let some of that grief out. They are just worried their friend is still hurting," Nick explained.

"I'm a big girl~," I huffed, shooing them away, they didn't have to give me a hurt puppy dog look.

He shook his head, "It's not about being a 'big girl'~," he air quoted, "It's about their friend being hurt and trying to help, if you're not feeling it just tell them, they'll give you some space... for like 20 minutes before you give a cough or a sneeze, and we'll be right back here again." I looked over to the girls who were spying over their booth making sure I was okay. "To be fair, I tend to act the same."

I sighed, "I don't think I've ever been this pampered in my life~." I've been to spas and stuff, under a different name of course, but I've never been to a spa that had blessed milk and crowns of gold for guests. "Aren't you going to do anything to make me feel better," I teased, I don't see why I shouldn't milk this a bit, it's not every day you get a space wizard waiting on you hand and foot.

He gave a light chuckle, "I'll make you some ramen for lunch." oh~, that's good~, but I want more. I shook myself a little and put on my game face.

"Is that it?" I hit him with a full puppy dog look.

He gave a sigh and rolled his eyes, "You will also get a shot at my Vault," I gave a gasp, "You're only allowed one thing if you get in!" I still fist-pumped, Nick has some of the coolest things, and Ava told me he had Web shooters, if he doesn't have them in his Hammerspace he definitely has them in his vault.

"Wait~, how many Vaults do you have?" No way Nick only has one Vault, he's the kind of dude who just had dozens of Vaults hidden away filled with monsters to defend them.

He smiled at me, "You get one shot before Sky gets huffy. You might be her friend but that's still her hoard."

I tsked, "Keep your secrets, I'll get them sooner or later," I blew him a raspberry.

"Good luck~," God he had such a punchable face sometimes. "Remember we need to go over our loot today, we're passing through the Citadel soon, and you know John is going to fight for Lady Liberty's head, he also wants that Puma X-7. He even has Anderson in his corner."

"What's stopping them from just taking the stuff? It is technically stolen."

He shrugged, "Nothing other than the fact that I'm a space wizard and John's a spectre. That gives him the right to take all the stuff with no fallout, probably, Spectre powers are a bit nebulous."

"Mmm~, do you have a list?" I asked. He gave me a book. Everything was on there, from Michelangelo's David to the Locust SMG that killed two presidents. Does he ever sleep?

"What are these?" I pointed to a W stamp on some pictures.

He passed me a stamp with a G on it, "That's what I want~, if you feel that you want something I want, stamp it and we could work something out." that's kinda cool, Nick seemed to go after the furniture, paintings, and blueprints. "Mmm, hey are we giving Tali and Lia the Quarian tablet?" I asked, there was a 'called for' stamp on the page.

"The Quarian what!?" Tali asked from her table with Lia and Neria.

"Were you spying on us~," Nick teased, as Tali speed-walked over to us.

"You weren't very quiet, the moment you said Puma X-7, Joker has been jumping from table to table getting closer," she huffed, sitting next to me and looking over the book.

"No, I wasn't, shut up, what's going on over here?" Joker asked sitting next to Nick.

"Dividing up the loot~," Nick answered.

"Is robbing someone really looting?" Joker asked.

"It's a bit of a gray zone~," Nick shrugged, "I like to think that if they're trying to kill you, it's looting, if you're trying to take something without hurting anyone, it's robbing, stealing from the rich and giving to the poor, makes you a Black fox, after the legendary rogue and thief of the same name, but if you do it maliciously, killing a person for their stuff is called murder, so don't do that last one."

"You guys have a Robinhood?" Joker asked.

"Is Robinhood a legendary hero thief that was once a noble who was sentenced to death by an evil emperor, but escaped, gained a motley group of adventurers that robbed the rich and gave to the poor, and later regain his title, after defeating the evil emperor and stopping a civil war, but always had time to help the commonfolk?" Nick asked.

"Uhhh, yeah, I think so," Joker hummed, "it's an old story."

"Was he real?" Nick asked.

"Was the Black Fox!?" Jeff sounded surprised.

"Oh yeah~, we have proof and everything, he even had apprentices before his disappearance about 70 years ago, when he went on a journey to the home of the ancient Elves. Some say he died, others say he's still out there, me?" he gave a smirk and leaned forward, "My portals come from ancient elven designs, there's a chance, no matter how small, that he may have used one and is traveling the multiverse."

"But he would be at least 100 years old," I pointed out.

Nick shrugged, "Maybe he's gone, maybe he had his fun and passed on, but a man like him," an illusion of a very familiar mask formed on Nick's face, a mask my grandfather had over his fireplace, "I'd like to think he would have left something behind. A legacy~," he swooned in a French accent. I couldn't look away from his mask before it turned to glowing dust and faded away, "But what do I know, he could have secretly retired at a beach somewhere, drinking mimosas and watching the fine ladies~. That's how I wanted to retire, but then I got a bunch of Galaxy-saving do-gooders getting in my way." he huffed like an old man.

I huffed back, "I have you know that I'm a proper rapscallion." I stuck my nose in the air before we broke into laughter.

"Can we focus?" Tali asked, looking at the book, "Nick, do you have the tablets?"

"Yes~, I looted everything, from fuel barrels to ancient statues," Nick nodded.

"I want them," she wasn't asking.

A smirk grew across Nick's face. She shouldn't have said that. "Ms. Zorah~, your words intrigue me~." Nick tapped his fingers on the table.

"Within reason," she gulped, her face gaining a blush. Naughty-naughty~.

"I want you... to be selfish."

.

.

.

"What?" we asked.

"Tali, you and Lia are some of the most selfless people I know. Always caring about the people around you, always ready to help, willing to give of yourself without a moment's hesitation. I don't want one of my friends to be a martyr. I want when someone says to do something stupid for you to call them out."

"I do that already," Tali huffed.

"No, you do it for others. We are reaching the Citadel later today, I'm going to give you 50,000 Credits, I want you to spend all of it, every single cred on yourself, Guns, clothes, food, an omni-tattoo, I don't care, but it has to be only for you, no one else, no charities, no beggars, no migrant fleet, only Tali," Nick answered.

"That's... a lot you're asking for," Tali muttered.

"Mmm~, no doubt, you were raised to be selfless, so I'll give you an out~," he summoned a book and passed it to Tali, only for her eyes to grow wide and her face to explode into a red-hot blush, as she read it.

"W-W-W-WHAT IS THIS!?" she cried. Looking over I found a picture of sexy dresses and underwear.

"If you're not willing to be selfish, then be the selfless paragon you want to be, by giving away your body to Julee~, she would love to dress you up like a doll." holy shit, he's crazy!

"You would look so beautiful in that bunny outfit~," Julee teased sneaking up behind us.

"EEP!?" Tali jumped in surprise.

"And I really like to see you in this swimsuit~," Julee pointed to a two-piece, "We can add your clan pattern, it would be perfect," She cheered and giggled.

"Uh, well, you see, that's uh," Tali muttered.

"Gasp! What about this one!?" Julee flipped the pages, to an elegant ball gown, "Oh gosh~, I have so many! With Zevran and Lily's visit, we made so many new designs! And since Dagna and Ayla got over their blackmail, I need a new dol- Model! I need a new model~." Her smile was so fake. "You know~, two Quarians are better than one~," she licked her lips and looked at Lia.

This time Tali stood in front of Julee arms outstretched as if shielding Lia from Julee's machinations, "You leave her alone, she is a young pilgrim on her journey," the look in Julee's eyes scared me a bit, as her lips rose mischievously, my brain felt... fuzzy. The air was too warm and my clothes too itchy.

"And what will you do to stop me, Ms. Zorah? Lia already agreed to sell herself to Nick for power, what's a little more for limestone tablets from her homeland worth~?" Julee's tail slowly wrapped around Tali's waist bringing her close, "What are you willing to give me for her protection~." she asked gently connecting their foreheads together.

"yo-you would extort me?" Tali stuttered. "I-I thought we-we were friends?"

"Oh~, my precious Tali~, we are friends, but I want more~. You think you can flaunt your hips, and smile with so much innocents and joy, without catching my attention~. I might not be 100% Devil, but I do love to corrupt the pure~." She leaned in and began to whisper into Tali's ear. I don't know what she was saying but poor Tali was glowing like a star, her breath was getting faster, and her eyes fully dilated. It all ended abruptly as a gentle karate chop hit Julee right in the head, causing her to hiss and jump away. The look she shot Nick could melt steel. "Nicky!? What do you think you're doing?"

"Knock it off~," Nick growled. "It's breakfast time, I don't care if you take Tali up against the walls in the engine room-"

"W-What!?" Tali stuttered red-faced and looking like she had lost her glasses.

"-but not in the kitchen, you know how I feel about the kitchen." Nick huffed.

"UGH! Not the Kitchen, not the bathroom, not next to the fireplace! I live in a gulag!" she huffed, grabbing Nick by the shirt and shaking him, "Love has to be free Nicky." she shoved his head into her breasts, "Nothing should stop us from making love when the time strikes!"

Nick gave a fast spank to her butt causing her to jump and let him go, "The rules are there because of you~, or did you forget about the fire you caused in the kitchen, or how you nearly drowned in the bath, or how your tail caught fire by the fireplace?" he huffed. He patted her head and brought her in close, "When I make love to you, I don't want to worry about the world burning around us, I only want to care for you." that's kinda sweet, in a naughty kinda way, I guess.

She hugged him tightly, "Danger adds spice~," she hissed.

"No, Danger adds uncontrolled danger, and uncontrolled danger adds unwanted pain, and unwanted pain knocks me out of the sexy mood, so follow the rules," Nick explained, draping himself over her, it looked like a rabbit holding up a bear.

She pulled away, "FINE! I'll follow the rules! One of these days Walters, I'm gonna wear something you can't say no to and going to be relaxing by the fire. You'll break, you always do~." She gave him a peck and sat next to me.

"No doubt but today's not that day." he turned to Tali, "So what do you say?"

Tali, looked like a fish out of the water, "I-I-I-I never, with a group, uh, I'm, very new to this. Not even with one person."

"Tali~," Nick drawled, catching her attention, flashing her a Credit chit, "Renegade or paragon~?" Nick gave the ultimatum.

"I... Do I need to pay you back if I don't use it all?" she asked looking at the chit.

"Absolutely not," he answered without missing a beat. "The money is all yours."

"What if I lie and give it to some Quarians who need money?"

Nick shrugged, "If that's what you want, I'm not going to stop you, I'm not going to even blame you. Helping others is a very mortal thing to do," He lifts her right hand and places the chit in her palm. "But sometimes Tali, you deserve something for all your troubles, maybe a cute dress, dinner at a fancy restaurant, a night out clubbing, maybe you just wanna buy something dumb, something for your eyes only~. Besides you look like a goody-two shoes, you couldn't keep it a secret for long. Part of me wants you to be selfless~, I can imagine you in a sun dress~." It took me a second to see it, but she would look good in a sundress, maybe light lavender.

"What if I need to buy something for the ship?" Tali asked. "Is it selfless to buy something that will keep me alive?"

"Ohhh~, trying to find a loophole already, I like it, but~," he gave her another chit, "That one has 300,000, buy whatever you think the Normandy needs, on me~."

"Whoa~, that's a lot of money~," I muttered. "You could buy a nice apartment in the presidium for that."

"You're just giving this to me?" Tali looked flabbergasted.

Nick shrugged, "What do I care for money? I'm not sure if you know this but giant space robots are going to try and kill us all, what good is money going to do? No, I think wasting it on things we need is far more important than having it in a bank. Besides don't we need to upgrade the ship some more? I'm pretty sure we need tools for that, I suggest you talk with Gabby, Donney, and Lia, go have fun with the engineering crew, and buy what you need to keep us alive." He shooed her toward the other engineers, before sitting back down, to finish his cereal.

"Just like that?" I asked. "You throw thousands of Creds to a young woman and shoo her away?"

He shrugged, "We are about to hit pay dirt, what does a few hundred thousand Creds for? Besides, we are on a suicide mission, shouldn't we have the best of the best, be paid like they're the best of the best. I'm still looking forward to my beach retirement~," he had a big pervy smile on his face.

He's definitely thinking of ladies in bikinis, "you're incorrigible~," I huffed. He just smirked.

"Hey," Joker interrupted, "Can we talk about the-"

-/-

Nick POV

"-Puma X-7," Anderson asked.

"Nope, that one's mine~," I huffed leaning back in my chair. We've been at this for hours, apparently going through hundreds of ancient artifacts, took some time. Apparently being a space wizard doesn't really give me the authority on artifacts so someone with an actual degree in art history had to be there to check the objects, and getting a group of Art history majors in one room wasn't easy, especially when we need one for each race. At the moment, Anderson, John, and I were in a warehouse in the presidium made for Council needs, it was big and empty, I didn't really know what they used it for, I guessed for parties or maybe for one of their private ships.

"It's an Alliance icon." he countered.

"Yes, and so is lady liberty's head, and I'm kind enough to give you that back for half off~," I shrugged.

"It has laser cannons~," Anderson huffed.

"Even better! Now people will second guess destroying freedom when it could shoot them with freckin laser beams," I teased.

"So, I'm guessing we aren't getting the fighter?" Anderson teased.

I gave him a shrug, "I'm not saying you can't have it. I just need to take it apart, create a blueprint, and then put it back together, and you give Joker a test flight. For a man who once had brittle bones, he has some major gripping muscles~." The moment I told Joker about the fighter he clung on to me like a baby koala, not letting me go until I promised to let him ride it.

"Once had?" Anderson asked.

"Nick cured him the second he walked into the Normandy," Shapard explained.

"I shouldn't be surprised," Anderson huffed.

"How are you doing David? It must have been weird using your Chi."

Taking my question for the break it was, Anderson just chuckled, "They put me through every test they could think of, it was N7 training all over again, but easier. Admiral Hackett asked if you could do the same for more of our soldiers."

"Mmm, Chi shouldn't be too much of a problem, you can give them a few pointers, but magic is a bit much," I shrugged.

"Is it more difficult to give Magic to people," David asked.

"Not really, but you have no one to teach them, the last thing you need is a bunch of sorcerers throwing around wild magic," I pointed out. "As funny as that would be, imagine Spartus being turned into a Krogan." I gave a light chuckle.

"That can really happen?" Shepard asked.

I sighed, "John, when are you going to get the clue that there is very little magic can't do?"

"If it's all good with you, Chi is enough for us," David chuckled.

"How many people are we looking at?" I asked,

"About 1,000."

"1,000!? What do you need? An army!?"

"... yes?"

"Oh, right, Reapers. How did I forget about that? Still, that's a lot~," I sighed. "Have you at least vetted these guys? I don't want them gaining powers and then booking it, from what I understand there are Cerberus sleeper agents out there, and I don't want to give TIM access."

"Mmm, I get what you mean, I'll see what I can do and send you a list."

I nodded, "I'll have EDI give them a background check."

"EDI?" John asked.

I shrugged, "She was a Cerberus AI, who was in their systems, if anyone knew their inner workings she does."

"AI?" David asked clearly confused.

"Joker's wife," John and I answered at the same time.

"Jeff's married to an AI?"

I shrugged, "Is it really that surprising? She's the Normandy, and Jeff's only attracted to big ladies that can fly and shoot lasers," I joked, passing him a picture of Jeff and EDI laughing as he taught her how to use chopsticks as they ate lunch. John gave me the people's eyebrow, "I wanna show a timelapse of their relationship during their 'official' ceremony."

"This looks like a normal human woman," David pointed out.

I puffed up a bit, "Thank you, EDI told me what she wanted in her new body, if it means anything, she took a little after you."

"Me?"

"You are the first human Councilor, veteran, Shepard's right-hand man, and a man of conviction. She thought if she looked like you, she might gain some of your spirit." I gave a shrug, "I'd like to think she's doing pretty good; Jeff will be putty in her hands soon enough." I teased.

John gave a laugh, David just looked at the photo a little longer, before giving a small smirk and passing back the picture, "Good to see someone putting him in his place. Now let's get back to this book, what do you want for the terracotta warrior?"

-/-

Tali POV

"Areus!" I waved to the spectre requisitions officer behind the counter.

The Turian gave me a long look, "Tali'Zorah?"

"You remember me!"

"Not many Quarians come in here, I guess Commander Shepard finally came out of undercover work, and you know," he waved his hand over his face.

"You thought he was undercover?" I asked.

He gave a shrug, "Not the first spectre to 'die' and come back a few years later." Mmm, spectres are spies I suppose, "So, I'm guessing you're here for some new toys?"

"Yep, need some ship enhancements."

"Not a problem, some good stuff has been popping up lately, all I need is the Commander's spectre code." I waved my omni-tool over his screen. It took a moment, but he nodded, "You're clear, happy shopping."

"Tali they have the blueprints for the Cyclonic Barrier, this thing is leagues above the Normandy's current shielding!" Gabby called out, "I think we have the raw material to craft one.

"And if not, they have a blueprint for an Argus Advanced Mineral Scanner," Donney added, looking over some of the blueprints, the spectre office had.

"What about this Modular Probe Bay? We wouldn't need to go back to a fuel depot as often," Lia'Vael asked.

"Couldn't Nick just make an extended crate and shove as many as we want?" Donny asked.

"Maybe, we should ask him, we might not even need to buy the Extended Fuel Cells, he can just make it so they can handle more fuel," Gabby pointed out.

"Buy them anyway, Nick tends to be paranoid, he'll probably make copies and have them fully fueled for emergencies," Lyna added, looking over some thruster designs.

"You know the Normandy's Antiproton Thrusters are the best in the market right now, right?" I asked.

"Oh, I know, but Nick wants to see some other designs he can add to Mother Base back home."

"Mother Base?" I asked.

"It's Nick's ship, it's about 440 meters," she guesstimated.

"Whoa, that's impressive for a ship made of wood," Donney nodded.

"HA, have you met Nick? No, he likes making things 'fun'," she air quoted, "Mother Base is a ship made of earth and stone that flies through the clouds, with an atmospheric bubble and shield that keeps things at a normal temperature of 70 degrees. Everything is powered by a huge Mana engine that will probably run forever, Nick likes to make things that last."

"So, he wants to upgrade it?" Gabby asked.

"More like make a new one, Mother Base kinda became a symbol of Ferelden power, and with us here he lent it to King Cailan and the Ferelden Vanguard as a base and quick troop movement. I can already hear Cailan debating for it to remain in Ferelden. Nick tends to be a softy when it comes to his friends."

"You think he'll give Joker the Puma X-7?" Gabby asked.

"Mmm, maybe, but more than likely he's just going to have us pull it apart so he could copy every individual piece add a Badassium Alloy for strength, and put it back together, at that point if enough people want it, he'll probably raffle it away or make some ridiculous contest, if the Alliance doesn't pay up the nose for it first."

"Just like that?" Lia'Vael asked, "Ships tend to have far more importance in the migrant fleet, you don't just give a ship away~."

Lyna gave a shrug, "Nick isn't the Migrant Fleet, he doesn't have use for it and if one of his friends does, he'll just pass it over, you should see The Flaming Poisoning Raging Sword of Doom." The very name made me shiver.

"The Flaming Poisoning Raging Sword of Doom? What kind of name is that?" Donny asked.

"It's the name of the most dangerous blade in my world. A single cut can kill a grown man, and if that doesn't kill you the flames will burn you alive, and if that doesn't kill you the poison will make you wish it did. Even Nick doesn't play with it, only Aeden Cousland has mastered its use."

"Who's that?" I asked.

"Nick's brother-in-law, Grey warden commander, a hero of Ferelden, and father, he's most proudful of that last one," Lyna joked. "It's probably for the best, Nick has never been much of a sword guy, and I doubt anyone has proper skills to use it here. We need a VI system to auto-navigate our first test flight."

"Mmm, I think we can make our own," Lia'Vael countered, "It shouldn't be too hard all we would need to do is create a timed system to control the engine and return it to where it came from."

"What about armor?" Gabby asked.

"What about the stuff EDI is made off, that mimetic Poly alloy?" Donny added.

"It's good for kinetic rounds, but does poorly against plasma," Lyna muttered, "I'm not saying it's not a good idea, but we would need something to protect it against plasma damage,"

I hummed looking through some of the armor blueprints, some were good, but the thickness could be a problem, but all the Arc reactors Nick as given me to enhance the Normandy's output should counter any weight it may add to the ship, but thicker armor doesn't always mean better.

"What about this?" Lyna showed me the screen she was working on.

"Silaris armor?" Looking over the benefits, the carbon nanotube sheets woven with diamond Chemical Vapor Deposition would give the Normandy the ability to take a beating, and with the new Thanix cannon, she can punch well above her weight class. I didn't like the price though, "It's a little expensive~."

"Hold on~," Lyna opened her omni-tool quickly calling Nick.

"40 MILLION!" We heard Nick yell at Counselor Anderson.

"40 MILLION!? You've lost your damn mind!" Anderson yelled, slamming his hand on the table.

"We both know Italy will pay an arm and a leg for it!" Nick roared back.

"It's missing an arm and leg!"

"Then you should have taken better care of it!"

"The European league will not be happy at Michelangelo's David's condition, I'll go up to 3 million."

"We both know it's at least worth more than 100 times that amount! 30 million or it becomes a nice statue in my garden!" He threatened.

"FINE! But you add the Pharaoh's Statue."

"Deal." They shook hands. "Sorry about that sweety, Anderson apparently had a minor degree in debate, what do you need from me?" Nick smiled at Lyna as he placed two statues in front of a stunned Human holding a magnifying glass.

"We need a little more money."

"No problem, Anderson's nothing if not efficient, do you want the money?"

"Send it to Tali, she has the wallet," Lyna answered. My omni-tool beeped, checking it I found my account was over 10 million. My mouth was very dry. Sure, I've handled Shepard's money before, but we would constantly be buying and selling things, we were always either flat broke or drowning in money, and the only time we had too much money was near the end of our hunt when we had the best equipment and didn't need to buy any more things, so we just sold everything we didn't need. Of course, the Normandy exploded not a month after.

"Have fun! And remember Tali~, Renegade, or Paragon." he teased. Keelah, I wanted to punch him.

"How much do you want for the Makos?" We heard Anderson.

Nick Tsked, "Man you know I don't need those! Love you!"

"Love you too~," She hung up. "What a dork~. I'm a have him pound me tonight~," she muttered, I don't think I was supposed to hear that. "So, did he give you enough?"

"Uh, yeah! A lot more than needed actually."

"Great! We can get a snack after this!" Lyna hummed.

"Is Nick always this uncaring of money?" I asked, "I mean, I don't want to come off as ungrateful!"

She waved away my worries, "Nick has his own 'CFO' that's meant to keep his money and himself in line, but Telsa is still back in my own dimension, she makes Miranda feel warm and loving, but Nick loves her, and to her credit, Telsa's the greatest financial advisor I have ever met. Thanks to her Nick practically has unlimited funds." she showed me a picture of a young woman, pale as a ghost, with hair as black as Ebony, and eyes the color of blood, she was also wearing pajamas made us some kind of silk that would most likely be worth more than anything I own. She also had a grumpy look on her face.

"She doesn't look happy," Donney pointed out.

"Oh yeah, no, she furious, this was the morning after we kidnapped her for her surprise vacation." She flipped to a new picture of Telsa strangling Nick, with the other girls trying to save him, then another of Nick in a neck cast as he and Telsa relaxed under a palm tree at a beach somewhere.

"I found that Nick surrounds himself with beautiful women~," Donney added looking at the pictures before Gabby elbowed him.

Lyna shrugged, "I would like to say that it was the luck of the draw, but you need to understand that Ferelden was in a war of independence not that long ago and then was ravaged by a Blight, and while it's true that Ferelden women might be some of the fiercest fighters in Thedas, they are also women, they give birth to the future generations, so as the men fought in the front lines, women were the hidden fighters. You can guess that a lot more men died, making Ferelden's population skew female. It's still going to take some time for everything to balance out, but we're working on it. The Orlesians were not kind, they killed any man who didn't pay their taxes... they didn't kill the women."

"Keelah~," Lia'Vael muttered.

Lyna shrugged, "So if you ever wonder why Nick hates Orlais."

"I thought Leliana was Orlesian?" Gabby asked.

"Ha! Don't let her hear you say that, she might have an accent, but she's a Fereldan through and through. She chugs her alcohol, and punches like any Fereldan. She just can't get a man~," she teased.

"The Commander seemed smitten~," Gabby giggled.

"Yeah but she can never stick the landing~, she tends to be a workaholic, she is trying to save a corrupted church by changing it from the inside," she shook her head, "I swear, she needs to take a break before she goes crazy." she let out a sigh, "Let's buy this stuff and buy some extra for emergencies, Nicky's paranoia is getting to me~."

We ended up buying a few more things, the blueprints cost us a pittance compared to the Armor, but even still we had quite a bit left over, as in an easy 9 million, Nick gave us way too much. With everyone back on the Normandy I was looking through the extranet for stuff to buy, I still had until the end of the day until my deal came to a close, then an idea crossed my mind, it was a crazy idea, but it could work~. I found my loophole.

-/-

Shepard POV

"Did you and Anderson have to get into that fistfight?" I asked Nick, he had a black eye and busted lip. The meeting when well... I guess, Nick got to sell everything he wanted, I got a great deal of money for my mission, and the Alliance got a bunch of premium tanks and mechs for cheap, we all got something.

"2,000 credits for the remains of Hock's mech! He was robbing us!"

"It was junk! Most of it was broken!"

"Broken my ass! Shepard, you're a good man so I'm not expecting much shady shenanigans from you, but you know what he's going to do?"

"Study it?"

"Oh you precious summer child, he's going to send it to R&D, get his boys to fix it the best they can, and then when we're finished with the collectors, and I'm on earth overpowering every AA gun within reach, he's going to be all 'hey since you're here can you add some touches to this bad boy', boom, free labor~." That's a long walk for a cup of water.

"I'm sure he'll pay you~," I deadpanned, I'm not sure if Anderson would do that, but the alliance sure as hell would. "And you can always say no."

"Don't be ridiculous Shepard, it's a giant robot, of course I'm gonna work on it! Are you saying you don't want to see a giant Mech shooting Reapers out of the air?"

"Ahh~, I never said that~," I drawled.

"I'm not even going to keep the damn thing~. That's the best part of having a giant robot, to have a giant robot!" He let out a sigh as we walked down Zakera ward toward the Normandy, I'm swear the council made me park so far away just to mess with me.

"You already have a giant robot," I pointed out.

"Yes, but I can have two~," he answered.

"Why not just make another one?" I asked.

"Time~, when I made my Prime suit I had plenty of free time, the blight was slow, and we were getting ready, but after the blight, I didn't need another mech, Ferelden needed me as a construction worker, not a fighter, so I put my fists away and picked up the hammer. I built homes, trains, and entire villages, and when they no longer needed me for that they needed me to help lead, so the hammer was put down and the pen was lifted, it took some time, but I was able to set up a decent system for my little city."

"And then you ended up here?"

He shrugged, "There was more to it, but yeah, I guess, don't tell the girls but I was feeling a little frustrated with the ruling, I have no idea why people wanna take over the galaxy, it's a shit job, you can't take 3 steps without someone calling for help, and if you ignore it people think you're a cold leader, but if you do help, people think you're giving others special treatment, there is never just a solid win."

"I'm guessing that's why you wanted to go to the beach dimension?" I asked.

"Part of the reason, but this place was good too~, sure the galaxy is being threatened by giant robot cuttlefish, but it's not boring, and I'm not in charge."

"Silver linings~," I teased.

"I like to think that's the best way to see the world," he sighed. "So, where are we heading next?"

"Illium, our last two recruits are somewhere in the Asari's crown jewel," I huffed.

"You sound annoyed, don't like the Asari?"

"It's not that I hate them, but you heard Anderson, the Asari have been lying this whole time, the Asari beacon had a Prothean VI! That's game-changing! It could show proof of the reapers!" Maker Damnit, those blue bitches had proof this whole time! They knew!

"True but the VI only works for Protheans," Nick pointed out. And that was the rub, so God damn close only for it to be locked behind a screen. "Maybe we should stop by. Didn't you get Protheaned by that plant thing? And then get two beacons shoved down your throat?" That... made me pause, he didn't need to make it sound like a date gone wrong, but he was right, the VI in Ilos talked to me, why wouldn't the one on Thessia? "What about the one on Mars, does that one have a VI? Do all of them? We really should ask more questions," he muttered to himself.

"Yeah~, we really should, I'll send Anderson and the rest of the Council a message about this," I sighed.

"Hold on, will this be safe? I mean Cerberus is still firmly strapped to your back, they might try and block you off, or just cut all contact if we go off script if we start losing focus on the collectors, and we both know that attack on Horizon wasn't happenstance. They were there for your girlfriend. And as much fun as it would be to tell TIM to gargle on our mayonnaise, he is the only one looking into the abductions."

FUUUUUCK~! "One thing at a time, the beacons can wait, Collectors now, but we have a solid start after them. With any luck, Anderson may have found something but is waiting for us to finish up this." I had to at least hope. At least I can now see the path ahead.

I guess Nick was right, I like the silver lining.

-/-

Lia'Vael POV

"Now Lia, Magic is not a toy, that comes later~." Nick teased. We were heading to Illium, somewhere we were told was a bad idea for pilgrims, because behind its Asari glamor, it was just like Omega but worse, at least Omega would angrily stab you in the face, not slit your throat with a smile. "Let's start with some Cantrips."

"Umm, Nick that's great and all but... why am I wearing this?" Unlike my usual workout clothes that I somehow got used to, I was now wearing a large dress that seemed to come out of one of those human cartoon vids.

"Simple, you never know when you are going to need to use magic, it could be in a battlefield where you're fully armored, or a ballroom filled with nobles, you need to know how different clothing affects your movement, that's why Grunt's in a tux." he pointed to a sharply dressed Grunt.

"I look, ridiculous," he huffed.

"You look fine!" Dagna called out, getting him to stand up straight, "Think of this as insulting your enemy, they aren't worth your armor."

"Mmm, I like that," the krogan nodded.

"Now let us begin. Magic comes from-"

"Hold on!" Tali'Zorah called out interrupting him, "Can't you see we're doing something!" It was true the rest of the engineering crew was slowly and methodically taking apart the Puma X-7. "Take your magic elsewhere!"

"HUH!? I have this time for magic training! And where is your outfit!?" Nick called out. Keelah, I saw the outfit Julee wanted her to wear. Let's just say my short shorts would be considered modest.

"I spent the money on something I wanted, and we have the shuttle bay until lunch!" She showed Nick a piece of paper. Nick looked it over and tsked.

"You're right, I'm sorry."

"Damn straight you are, Lia'Vael!" Tali'Zorah ordered, getting me to snap to attention.

"Yes Ma'am!"

"Get out of that dress and into your work clothes, we need help with this engine."

"Yes Ma'am!" I took off toward the elevator, ugh how do women run in these things, I'm just happy Nick thought heels were torture devices.

I rushed back to my room, which was huge! Nick placed it under Kasumi's room. At least 40 Quarians could live here with plenty of space. The bed was easily three times my size and held me like a baby, I also had my own private bath, work desk, and closet, filled with dozens of clothes Julee gifted me along with some clothes I bought, a weapons locker that I hope I never had to use filled with a lightning infused mace and an enhanced sidewinder pistol, along with my Armor Nick made my to handle anything short of a ship's main gun, and finally a TV with hundreds of interdimensional movies and shows.

Putting away my poofy dress I quickly put on my work clothes and ran back don't to the Shuttle Bay where it looked like I walked into another ship altogether.

"Careful with that ya mooks! What kind of operation do you think we're running here!?" Nick called out. In the 30 minutes I've been gone, stupid dress, the Shuttle Bay became a scrap yard, Golems were moving large heavy armored pieces, to individual place stands, where Lyna took pictures. Gabby and Donny were slowly taking apart the engine marking every screw and bolt. Tali'Zorah was taking apart the driving mechanism.

"Humans are crazy~," Tali'Zorah muttered, "Most of these were just readings, they didn't even have VI targetings, these mad men just shot from the hip!"

"I think that was what the Co-pilot was for," I pointed out joining her in the cockpit.

"That's even crazier! It would take amazing teamwork just to hit a ship."

"It was an old model," Donny answered, "modern fighters have all that normal stuff that a co-pilot was supposed to do. My Gramps used to fly one of these, he told me it was all about communication, you had to trust your co-pilot with your life."

"Your Grandpa Pip never flew one of these~," Gabby countered.

"Not an X-7, he flew a Spear U-49, it didn't have the same power as the X-7, and couldn't FTL, but it was cheaper to make and had some mean guns. He was gripped about not using one during the first contact war, he retired just 4 years before that."

"I suppose having two pairs of eyes is better than one," Tali'Zorah muttered. "Does the Alliance still do that?"

Gabby shrugged, "Depends on the fighter, Bombers usually have two pilots, but most fighters only have one nowadays, with the advancement of VI and how cheap some fighters could be made, suddenly everyone could fly one."

"You know I've only heard rumors of humans, you guys are rather new to the galactic stage," I pointed out getting the panel off the cockpit and passing it to a golem. "Is it true that humans eat poison?"

"Poison? No, I don't think so." Donny answered confused at the question.

"What kind of poison?" Nick asked, helping pull apart one of the wings.

"Like poison plants, they're red and green on the extranet," I clarified.

"Like peppers?" Gabby asked.

"They say Krogans can't even eat it!" and I thought krogans could eat anything~.

"Are you talking about capsaicin? It is produced by most peppers and other plants, you ate some," Donny drawled.

"I DID!?" no way! "When?"

"I made spicy chicken tacos yesterday, I used peppers," Nick answered.

"You mean those edible plates made of corn with the angry chicken?" Tali'Zorah asked.

"You're supposed to fold them and eat them with your hands, didn't Shepard teach you?" I asked.

"I've seen Shepard eat; I'm not taking eating advice from him." The captain does tend to just shove food into his mouth without thinking.

Nick shrugged, "Don't blame him too much, he's an elite soldier who was probably trained to shove calories down his throat and keep fighting. Garrus is the same way, do you have any idea how long it took me to learn that turian recipe his mother showed us, he didn't even taste it." he passed Lyna a thruster.

"So, wait I can eat earth poisons!?" I asked.

"Mmm, Capsaicin isn't much of a poison, kind of, maybe. It's a bit difficult to explain, humans can't really digest capsaicin, it just tricks our nervous system into thinking you are heating up while giving a light sting to the mouth. In short, we don't taste spicy food, we feel it. That's why Grunt didn't like it too much, his redundant nervous system simply blocked the pain making it taste bland. Do Quarian's not have something similar?" Nick asked.

"Umm, not really. We just eat Keleven, it's a high-protein plant we grow on the live ships. It didn't really have a taste; it just gave us the necessary calories for us to stay alive," I answered.

"Not too surprising, Quarians land more on the carnivorous end of the food web, your teeth tell me that much. Can you eat Turian food?" Nick asked. Tali gave a nod, I've never eaten turian food before, it was all nutrient paste for me since I left the Migrant Fleet. I think the first time I've ever eaten meat was on this ship... I can never go back to nutrient paste. I gave an involuntary shiver at the thought of having to eat that disgusting slime and stuff again. I'll just have to kidnap Nick and keep him in my room to satisfy my need for his meat... nope, that sounded like a sexual fantasy at best, a creepy serial killer stalker at worst. "Turians are heavy carnivores and take their necessary vegetable intake from their prey, but I've seen Garrus eat Dextro-chocolate, how does that work?"

"Humans," Tali'Zorah answered, "From what I understand during the war against the Turians, Turian prisoners couldn't eat human food, so humans synthesized some Dextro food using some of their own taste, one of those foods was some kind of extremely hard chocolate meant for soldiers."

"Military chocolates!? that stuff is as hard as bricks and as bitter as Brussels sprouts," Nick gasped making a disgusted face.

"The Turians loved it, long-lasting, cheap to make, resistant to fire, easy to carry, and was made with high calory levels. After the war ended, one of the first things ever traded between the two species was chocolate," Tali'Zorah shrugged. "I tasted it once, that stuff stuck to my teeth for days, but it tasted okay, a lot like Keleven, but has some sweetness to it." She sounded nonchalant, but her body language said something else, she was impatient, almost annoyed that Nick was still talking and not giving her the chocolate.

"Mmm, here eat this~," Nick passes her a brown bar of some kind.

"I'm busy, I don't have time for... whatever this is." Tali held the bar with reverence and confusion.

"It's chocolate," Nick explained.

"Why is it brown and glowing?" she asked, "Turian chocolate is bright orange."

"Orange?" Nick asked.

"It's a good way to make sure we don't mix up ingredients," Gabby pointed out. "The glow is new though."

"It's magic chocolate, I want to see if there's any difference," Nick explained.

"It's glowing," Tali'Zorah pointed out, "I think that's good enough evidence to figure out that it does taste different."

"Come on~! I would ask Lia, but she has never eaten turian chocolate before, unless you also want one Lia~," he passed a brown bar over to me. It was brittle but held its shape.

"Really, you're going to have an innocent Pilgrim test your magic food?" Tali'Zorah huffed.

"Well, I mean, yeah~, I paid to use her body for my 'experimental' pleasure~," Nick bounced his eyebrows.

"KEELAH! Don't say it like that!" I groaned trying to cover my face.

"Oh, I'm so sorry~, what I mean to say was that her body and mind are mine to test, to find out what makes the Quarian people beg for more~," he teased.

"THAT'S EVEN WORSE!" I tried to chop him on the head, but he moved, laughing all the way. Now I understand what Ayla was talking about, Nick loved to twist words around to get a rise out of people. "One of these days Nick~,"

His smile only seemed to grow, "I should warn you, just about every woman who's punched me, somehow fell in love with me, and I get my... licks back~." this time he leaned forward enough where I could easily punch him, "You wanna try~." Keelah, that was a face any woman would happily punch, thankfully a chop from overhead tapped him right in the noggin, "Ouchy~."

"Stop teasing them ya perv, I swear you and Julee are cut from the same cloth sometimes," Lyna sighed.

He giggled, "At least I'm not as forward as Sky."

Lyna just gave another sigh, "I don't think Lia would have made it, especially after getting out of her suit. I'm just happy we curved her kissing habit."

"k-k-kissing," I stuttered, covering my lips.

"That we know of~, you've seen how Julee has been whispering to her, and last night wasn't gentle, she's getting territorial," Nick warned. What the hell does that mean?

"She was rather rough~. Lia, I need you to stay sharp, whatever you do, don't get cornered." Lyna warned.

"She, won't do anything right?" I whispered.

"Sky is a Great dragon, in her culture, power, wealth, and age is the only thing that is respected. And Wealth can be just about anything. Like poor innocent Quarians, that only wanted to help," Nick warned. "We of course tried to curve her more... let's say, passionate tendencies. But if she believes you are not strong enough to handle yourself, she will take you, in any way she wants, it will start innocently enough, a few golden trinkets," I slowly reached up to my gold hair clip, "Then it's some kind of touching," I remembered Sky patting my head every time I did something right, "then it's some kind of skin ship, nothing too sexual," flashes of her cleaning my back in the bath, and her full body hugs, "with all those boxes checked she moves in for a more... Intimate relationship."

I gulped, "Uh~, should I know what that is?"

Lyna hummed, "Well it will start with light kissing, usually on top of the head, maybe on the back of the hand and up the arm. She then tends to move fast; she tends to skip the cute first kiss and goes straight to tasting your tonsils, and when you're good and drunk on Dragon tongue she'll go for your body, she might fumble a bit, she's never touched a Quarian, it won't be long before you're just a moaning mess begging for more, trust me," she gave a little shiver, "She knows what she's doing," her face had a light blush, I think my face was on fire. My mouth was so dry.

"Is, uh, any uh, way to stop her?" I choked out.

Lyna sighed, "You're gonna need a stay of execution, and only Jak has the power to enforce it, but that won't stop her, not really. She will be there like a noble knight, if you trip, she'll catch you, if your angry, she'll be there to hear you rage, if you're tired, she'll be there to carry you, and when you're feeling lonely, she'll be there to hold you close, and before you know it you'll be licking down her abs~," she swooned, looking up at nothing. "Nothing makes you feel more powerful than watching someone like Sky whimpering your name~…" Nick gave a cough, "HUH!? What? Uh, I mean, be careful, she's sneaky!"

At this point everybody but Nick was red-faced. "Anyway~, now that that sexy warning was been given, how about you guys eat that chocolate~," he asked, holding a clipboard and pen. He was supposed to wait until after lunch to do his Experiments but at this point, I don't think I could talk so I just shove it into my mouth keeping me from saying anything.

Mmm, Oh~, that's good~. I looked over to Tali'Zorah to see if she was also feeling this, her eyes were fully dilated, and was licking her fingers trying to get every last morsel of Chocolate. She then looked at my fingers that had some melted Chocolate. I snapped my fingers away, MINE! She hissed at me, how Dare she!? I hissed back, before licking my fingers real quick, this is my chocolate! Keelah~, it was so good.

"I... think I've done goofed," Nick muttered.

Nick~, he has chocolate, he makes chocolate... MY CHOCOLATE~.

-/-

Miranda POV

I may hate Walters, but I'll be damned if he wasn't a good teacher, this sushi was top-notch. I'll never tell him that though.

"SHEPARD!?" Nick came running around the corner, looking extra twitchy. Are those bite marks?

"Nick?" Shepard asked, he, Garrus, and Mordin were talking about the Thanix Cannon, and the calibrations needed to cut down the time it would need to fire again, Shepard looked lost, he was the perfect soldier, not an engineer, he was just nodding along. "Are those bite marks?"

"I've done goofed!" Nick panicked. What did that idiot do?

"Calm down, what are you talking about? Did you summon a demon or something?" because that's just what we needed, this stupid space wizard summoning monsters from the beyond.

"No, yes, no, I made a mistake."

"What mistake!?" Garrus asked.

"I GAVE TALI AND LIA... chocolate~," he whispered that last word, like saying it too loud would summon a monster. Seriously, chocolate? That's what got this guy all panicky? Vakarian and Shepard just looked at Walters for a moment, before they jumped out of their seats and barreled over the kitchen counter, risking burns and blades, Nick joined them shortly after.

Everyone else just looked confused at them.

"SHEPARD TO JOKER! WE HAVE A CODE SWEET! LOCK THE ELEVATORS!"

"SWEET!?" Moreau screamed. "SHE ALREADY HAS CONTROL OF THE ELEVATOR! EDI LOCK THE COCKPIT! EDI FOCUS!" was the last thing we heard before the comms when dead.

There was a ding from the elevator before the lights went out, plunging the room into pitch darkness. Before two pairs of glowing eyes appeared from the dark. "TALI! As your captain, I order you to go to bed!" Shepard ordered. One of the pair of eyes turned to the voice before they blinked out of existence, "That better have been you going to bed!" There was a racket of dishes and plates hitting the ground.

"Shepard~," Zorah hissed.

"Tali?"

"I have your little toy~."

"Tali! You put down my alliance frigate young lady! it took me a day to put together and another to paint, this is my only warning!" Shepard ordered.

"Give me the Chocolate man!" she countered.

"You've already had enough chocolate! You're gonna wake up all cranky tomorrow!"

"I'LL WAKE UP ANY WAY I WANT! GIVE ME THE CHOCOLATE MAN, or your ship has an... 'Navigation malfunction' and fly straight into the floor," she threatened with a hiss. Suddenly the emergency light lit up the room in red, showing a rather deranged-looking Quarian holding a model ship ready to smash it into the ground, she meant business. Looking over I spotted Vael surveilling the room for any sign of Walters, any other day I think I could handle them, but Vael is some kind of super Quarian and Zorah looked ready to try and bludgeon me like a cavewoman, besides this is Walters's fault, let him get in trouble. Suddenly Vael gave a yelp, looking down I noticed the dart sticking to her rump. Following the dart's trail, I found Chakwas holding a dart rifle, Vael took a single step before dropping, completely out cold. Zorah gave a hiss and jumped behind cover, dodging another dart.

"Don't make it harder than it has to be young lady!" Chakwas ordered, taking aim.

Tali hissed but was cut off by a slice of chocolate cake on a plate sliding across the floor, without thinking she rushed the cake leaving her wide open for Chakwas to nail her in the rump, causing her to slump face first on the cake, "Worth it~," she muttered through a mouthful of cake before going completely losing consciousness.

Walters slowly raises his head over the counter, holding the rest of the cake, did he make that when the lights were off? "What the hell was that?" he muttered.

"Quarians don't do chocolate well," Shepard answered, "we don't know why, we believed it has something to do with the sugar or maybe just the taste, but Quarians tend to have rather extreme reactions."

"She mugged me for any Chocolate I had left," Garrus huffed. "And when I ran out, she got a little... aggressive. Quarian legs aren't a joke, when Wrex tried to stop her, she kicked him so hard she launched him across the shuttle bay, I think that was when he started giving her some respect. It took Kaidan and Liara to work together to biotically hold her in the air and stuff her in a crate. She crashed an hour later and woke up super grumpy and confused." He walked over and helped Shepard carry the unconscious Quarian into the med bay.

"Joker! Code Sweet is clear!" Shepard called out, the emergency lights gave way to the ships' regular lights, blinding me a bit.

"That was close commander, I nearly pooped my pants when I learned I had no control over the elevator, I thought she was going to make us fly to 'Chocolate Planet' again." Joker huffed.

"EDI, how are you doing?" Nick called out.

"Ms. Zorah and Ms. Vael flooded my processors with junk data making it difficult for me to understand what was happening, I'll do some Software updates to make sure that doesn't happen again," The AI answered. Great~, the AI is now faster and stronger.

"Does that mean you won't have me calculating Pi when you take over the galaxy?" Moreau joked.

"Of course not Jeff, you'll be too busy polishing my body... that was a joke," EDI explained.

"Was it really~," Nick teased as the comms when silent. "So, will they be okay?" he asked carrying Vael into the Med Bay, I of course stayed close, I needed to know if they were going to be a problem to my order. Sitting so I could see into the Med Bay and used my omni-tool to connect to the listening devices I planted in the room.

"They'll be fine, the chocolate just has to work its way out of their system, just make sure you don't give them any more Chocolate," Chakwas ordered.

"Is chocolate a drug?" Nick sheepishly asked.

"Mmm, not a drug per se, it's more of a powerful stimulant like caffeine to the max, the Quarian brain tends to work overtime. I believe that the Quarian may have had something similar on Rannoch." Chakwas answered.

"Mmm~, why did they become so aggressive?"

"Because it's new, the Quarians have been on a solid vegetarian diet, they had one food for hundreds of years, anything they eat hits them like a truck, and their animalistic part of their brains to overreact," Chakwas explained.

"I'M AWAKE!?" Vael shot up half asleep and extremely confused. "Wha~? Why are all of you in my room? Why is your head a marshmallow?"

"Go back to bed ya dummy," Nick tapped her forehead.

"You're a dummy... ya big-headed... punk~," she fell back to sleep.

"I'll keep an eye on them," Chakwas shooed the three men out of the door.

"OP, one sec!" Walter did something and my bug went dead, those are expensive! "I'm going to let them sleep it off. I'll be in the Shuttle Bay helping the others take apart the Puma, call me if you need me!" he cheered skipping out of the room.

"That guy worries me sometimes," Vakarian muttered, "he has all this power, and he acts so carefree. Is that normal?"

Shepard shrugged, "Power has a way of showing people who you really are, I'm just happy Nick's a lay back kind of guy, I sometimes think about someone like TIM having his power, the untold destruction, the death, the misery, just to see if he could cure a common cold faster, the fact that Nick makes fun of everything lets me sleep better at night."

Leave it to Shepard to miss the big picture, The Illusive Man might do unsavory things, but it would only be for the betterment of humanity, sometimes you must get your hands dirty if you want things to get done.

"I guess it could be worse," Vakarian muttered, "We could have been dealing with another Saleon."

"Yeah, now all we have to deal with is a Young Frankenstein with a heart of gold," Shepard joked. I wouldn't be surprised if he brought someone back from the dead with an abnormal brain. "Lawson," he greeted me sitting across, with Vakarian next to him. If I didn't know better, I would think these two were joined at the hip.

"John," I greeted back.

"Commander," he corrected, "Shepard if you're feeling friendly."

"Right, Shepard what can I do for you?" I asked, gritting my teeth. Any steps I took to get Shepard to trust me as been slowly eroded away thanks to that bloody wizard!

"We'll be arriving in Illium tomorrow morning, what do we know about the Assassin and Justicar?"

"Have you read their Dossiers?"

"Yes, Thane Krios, Drell, professional assassin, one of the best, with an assassination list a mile long with near-perfect completion. And impeccably well dressed, I'm not sure who's writing the Dossiers, but I think they might have a crush~," he drawled.

"Right~, Krios has been hunting in Illium for the last two years, all his targets worked for one person, Nassana Dantius. He has been laying low, no doubt to get to her."

"Dantius? I know that name."

"I think it was that Asari emissary, the one that tricked us into killing her slaver sister," Vakarian answered.

Shepard snapped his fingers, "That's her! I still don't know why she lied about that, I was happy to kill another slaver."

"It's all about reputation with the Asari," I sighed. "Next would be the Justicar."

"Samara, the dossier was a bit iffy, not much about her other than that she was some sort of super Asari commando that does whatever she wants, when I did some research all I got was some Asari cartoons about Justicars," Shepard hummed.

"Understandable there are very few justicars left in the galaxy, and their order is very secretive, but they are some of the most powerful biotics in the galaxy, even by Asari standards. From what Cerberus was able to dig up, Justicars are a lot like the Spectres, but only in Asari space, they tend to follow a strict set of rules only they know and act as Judge, jury, and executioner," I explained, of all our possible recruits I find Samara the most problematic, even Walters works with the gray of the universe, Justicars only see the galaxy as black or white, and I doubt she'll see Cerberus anything other than black.

"That's a bit troubling," Shepard huffed, "Are they Paladins?"

I shrugged, "I wouldn't know."

He shook his head at me, "I wasn't talking to you," he gently placed his glowing gun on the table with his hand over the weapon. He must be talking with his god, the idea that something out there is judging us feels wrong, how can something that doesn't have to live through our lives judge us for our actions. "Okay, so they aren't Paladins more like an order of monks that kill because they think they know best."

"Like every government in the galaxy?" Vakarian asked.

"That's a bit cynical~," Shepard drawled.

"And accurate," Vakarian joked, I think, I don't know Turian sarcasm. "Any idea where we can find them?"

"Kind of, the Maker told me to have that Prothean statue I kept from the Hock's vault ready when we get to Illium," Shepard huffed.

"So, what's that like? Is it just a voice in your head? Or is it visions? Give me something," Vakarian huffed, I'd be lying if I said wasn't curious myself.

"Mmm, you know, now that I think about it, it's almost like a dream, nothing's perfectly clear, sometimes it hits me hard, like one of my Drill Sergeants when I was first in the military, screaming right in my ear, making it perfectly clear what I'm supposed to do and how I'm failing, other times it's like an imaginary whisper that I can't shake, calling me from a distance. Sometimes there are no words, just signs, on the Way to the ship yesterday the Neon signs that littered Zakera Ward led us down an alley filled with Quarians and beggars, Nick cured their immune systems, gave them money, and shooed them away."

"How much are we talking about?" Vakarian asked.

"There were about 20 Quarians and he gave them 50,000 each."

"That's a million Credits!?" The turian gawked, I did too, you can't just toss around that sort of money.

Shepard just waved it away, "Trust me, he could afford it. He and Anderson had quite the monetary battle, we walked away with quite a large amount of money. Turns out the Alliance is willing to shell out for art and slightly used tanks."

"Still, you can buy a slightly used frigate for that amount of money," Vakarian shrugged.

"Nick knows he's in that sweet spot where he knows the Reapers are coming and knows everything is going to skyrocket, so you might as well buy it cheap while you can, cause Credits won't mine much during the war," Shepard explained.

"It doesn't hurt that he's from another dimension, and leave this universe behind if things get too dangerous," I drawled, this was one of the major reasons I couldn't trust Walters, this isn't his world, none of this matters to him, if he feels like it, he can walk through his portal and tell us to suck eggs, and there is nothing we can do about it.

"True, the fact that he's helping us at all is very lucky," Shepard sighed.

"You're welcome~," Qina sang, sitting next to me, with a plate of pancakes. Ayla Qina was a half-elf, meaning she was part human, which should be impossible, two different races that evolved through different evolutionary chains shouldn't be able to produce children, and yet here she is. You better believe this got a lot of Cerberus scientists interested, of course, Walter's threat still hangs overhead, waiting for us to do anything that he would consider threatening. Before I would have scoffed at such a threat, but I've seen what Walters could do, I have no doubt he would upgrade every man, woman, and child if it meant Cerberus burned slowly and painfully.

"Hey Ayla, didn't see you yesterday," Shepard nodded.

"I was doing my monthly round at Sky City Hospital," she sighed.

"You work at a hospital? I thought you were a traveling healer or whatever you humans call it," Vakarian muttered.

"Cleric~. The Maker has given me holy power to help the people, I just found it easier to do it from a hospital, people tend to come to me, I sometimes do field work though, when I teach young students the ropes, but that was some time ago~, my old students have students of their own now, and basic healing is something most young sorcerers do in basic training. I mostly handle the big cases and do some public ceremonies like weddings or coming-of-age celebrations with Ava and Sereda."

"Uh~, am I supposed to do that?" Shepard asked.

"Hum~, Maybe, you probably should be, ya see the more people believe in the Maker the more powerful you become. You have EDI, Joker, Anderson, Chakwas I think, no doubt a few Krogan, but if you want real power you have got to boost your numbers. You don't even have holy armor, you barely have a pistol," she teased.

"So, gods work through Faith?" I asked.

She tilted her hand side to side, "Kind of, there's more to it, but that's the basic way of putting it, sometimes it's about belief, not faith. As long as people know the Maker is real you get power from it, that's why Wrex got all that power, the Krogan people believe in Vaul, they may not Pray to him, but they know him, and he could then control that power and funnel it back to Wrex. You felt it right, back at the Shaman quarters when you got close to the Symbol of the Maker?" Shepard's eyes grew, "The shamans know of the Maker, they even gave a minor prayer as payment for us helping the female camp."

"That explains why I felt ready to fight another Thresher Maw. When do you think I'll gain holy armor?"

Qina shrugged, "Hard to tell, Thedas was the birthplace of the Maker, so with was drowning with holy power, the milky way is filled with potential, but any useable power is all over the place... I can feel it sometimes ya know, there are a lot of dead gods out there." well that was ominous.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"When gods die, they tend to leave power behind, almost like an imprint, usually another god takes their place, but not here, it's as if all their followers were killed before a new God could rise," she gave us a long look, "The Reaper War is going to be ugly, be ready for that Shepard. The Maker will sound every warning bell he can, and a lot of people are going to get desperate for the gods to fix this, that means we aren't going to get much of a break when all this really kicks off."

"We?" I asked, "You would stay even if Walters didn't."

She shrugged, "I doubt Nick is going anywhere, even if he did you wouldn't force me to return, he respects my choices, that's what it means to love someone, to trust and support... and sometimes crazy monkey sex. Please tell me you aren't one of those people who think they need to be constantly challenging their lovers because love is some sort of competition."

"No," I drawled, is being in a polyamorous relationship dull you to polite conversation?

"Good, nothing feels better than when you make a crazy plan and the people around you just nod along and follow your lead. Of course, there is a small chance you might be wrong and have to spend a week bedridden because of a broken leg, but who could have known you couldn't outrace an avalanche on a snowboard," she let out a long sigh, "Nick had me in a cast for a week as punishment. Still, I got my needs handled, even if I was teased for a month. Life~, am I right~?"

"No," I deadpanned.

Qina just looked at me, "You know if you were a bit frumpier, cockier, and could take a joke. Nick would have probably adopted you," I raised my eyebrow at her, "Oh, it's true~, You and Morrigan have so much in common, both of you have an aura of raw power, intelligence, and pragmatism. Morrigan was a bit of a role model when I first started out. She took shit from no one, not the King of Ferelden, Not Nick, not even Sky, when she did something she would do it right or not at all."

"Was she a noble?" Shepard asked, "Most Kings don't just take shit from anyone."

Qina shook her head, "She was a Witch of the Wilds, they're usually myths and legends, magic users that practice forbidden magics."

"I'm guessing that's illegal~," Vakarian drawled.

"More like frowned upon, some magics are forbidden because of the danger that comes with casting it, others because of what's needed to do it right, one of those being..." She actually looked around as if someone would show up and reprimand her, "Blood Magic," she whispered.

"Blood magic?" I asked.

She nodded, "It's a form of sacrificial magic, to give up something to gain something else. That's also how Revivify works, as long as the gods agree, I can give up wealth and some of my power, I'll become the bridge for the dead to return. By giving up Blood the caster can gain serious power, and it doesn't have to be your own, but nothing comes without a cost. Blood magic messes with the mind and the body, it also attracts demons."

"You know I've heard Nick talk about demons, but I don't really understand, what are Demons?" Vakarian asked.

"Mmm~, our realm of magic is extremely close to our material realm, we're practically right on top of one another, we call it the fade, a place ruled by spirits and demons, but the truth is a bit different. The Fade is a realm of Power and imagination fueled by magic; things tend to get a little crazy, and Spirits and demons are just manifestations of emotions and beliefs. Demons of Rage, Fear, Despair, Hunger, Wrath, Pride, and every other negative emotion you can think of can form given time and repetition. We tend to avoid fields that once had nasty battles because Demons linger, the last emotions of people dying tend to be strong and long lasting."

"That doesn't sound good," Shepard muttered.

"They usually don't last longer than 5 years, but you got to be careful, some Demons make that area their hunting ground absorbing weaker demons and try to jump from one realm to another. It usually doesn't get that bad, 9 times out of 10 a cleric or paladin comes along and blesses the area dispelling any lingering malicious entities."

"And spirits are different?" I asked.

"While demons are manifestations of negative emotions, Spirits, on the ither hand, are manifestations of positive emotions, Bravery, Honor, Compassion, Hope, Faith, Justice, and every other emotion we believed to be morally right, in times of great danger some spirits give power to a chosen few making them Warlocks. This is considered to be very dangerous and you should end the contract as soon as possible."

"Dangerous? Why, they are helping," Shepard asked.

Qina nodded, "True, but you must understand, spirits and demons are simply emotions manifested into beings of power, and people could twist those emotions, when does Duty become Pride, or Love become Lust, or Justice become Vengeance. And those are Spirits, they want to do good, they want to help, Demons don't, they don't care about you, only what they can take, they come to you when you're at your lowest, they promise you anything you want for your body, to nestle themselves next to your soul, to feel what you feel, to taste what you taste, and when they've had enough they dump you corpse and find a new sucker."

"Why would anyone do that?" The idea made me feel sick.

"Power~, we call these mages, abominations, the demon shoves power into your body morphing you into a monster but will give you power that you couldn't get normally, most times it leads to madness and lots of death. If we are fast enough," she gestures to Shepard and herself, "we could exorcise the demon saving the person before too much damage is done. I did it a few times, it's like wrestling a grease Nug," she shrugged. I don't know what a nug is, but I don't want to touch one.

"Do we need to worry about Demons?" I asked, The Illusive man needs this information.

She gave a hum, "I doubt it, your Magic Realm is pretty far from the Material Realm, that's why you don't have natural Mages, as long as your realms are far apart I doubt any Spirit or Demon will go out of their way to come all the way over here," she answered shoving some pancake into her mouth.

"But is it possible?" I asked.

"uh~, maybe~, you would need a stupid amount of power to bridge the gap, and only an idiot would use that much uncontrollable power, if it helps, anyone who tries will most likely die before they even get close... probably~," she shrugged, "I'm not a theoretical magic scientist. I'm a woman of action!" She shoved her fork into the air like it was a sword. "I learn by doing, and punch people with holy books!"

Well, at least she's honest.

-/-

Tali POV

"It's hot~," Nick whined. Nos Astra was located closer to the equator of Illium making it a toasty 63 degrees Celsius on the ground floor but up here in the buildings, it was still a hot 30 degrees, and it was muggy. I'm beginning to miss my air-conditioned suit, a little bit, kind of, I could use a cool drink. At the moment Shepard was talking to an employee of the Docking Bay about parking the Normandy, while Nick, Jak, Jenny, Dagna, Lia'Vael, and I were by the ship, everyone else was waiting for Shepard's all clear before they got off the ship.

"Why are you complaining Nick, we have magic Runes that keep us at 22 degrees~," Jak teased, she was wearing a leather jacket, white tube top, and jean shorts with her Pistol strapped to her thigh.

"What!?" Jenny groaned, who was still wearing her belt 'shirt' that covered her nipples and not much else and her baggy pants.

"I just wanted the nonmagical peasants to feel like we are mutually suffering," he said in the most pompous stuck-up way a man could.

"We can take him~," Jenny muttered to me.

"He's goading you~," Ayla teased, she was wearing a cute sundress that left her shoulder free and went down to her knees. "The second you get close enough his going to put you in one of these." She played with her dress showing off her legs.

"I get the dress but why are you wearing Converse? I'm not a fashionista but I'm pretty sure that doesn't go well together," Lia'Vael asked.

Ayla shrugged, "I like the dress and we tend to kick people a lot."

"Let me guess it also keeps you cool~," Jenny groaned. The sundress morphed into Ayla's usual armor, before changing back.

"According to Nick this place is Orlais with taller buildings, and trust me, you don't want to be an elf in Orlais without a good set of armor and weapons."

"I don't think a dress would be called armor," Jenny countered.

"It's magic armor, its outer appearance is just a show, magic is doing the heavy lifting," she gave a twirl.

"What the hell!? why doesn't Nick give us all magic-changing armor?" Jenny huffed.

"You don't even wear shirts~," Nick huffed, "and now you want magic armor~, don't make me laugh. You want magic armor prove to me that you can wear normal clothes, here, this Jacket is made of Drake Leather with a comfort rune." he tossed her a black scaled jacket that reached her hips, "And these," he passed her some jeans, "And let's not forget about this," he passed her a bikini top.

Jenny rose an eyebrow at him, "Really?" she deadpanned.

Nick shrugged, "I would have given you a shirt but I'm pretty sure you would have thrown it away. And as we are in the content of clothing what do you think of your new work outfit Tali~?" He pulled out some purple overalls with my Clan markings. Just overalls. "They come with gloves and boots~."

"Wha-what about a shirt?" I stuttered. He just smiled, I gulped, "W-well, it doesn't matter, I completed my end of the deal!"

He looked around, looking for something before focusing back on me, "You told me that you spent 50,000 creds and that your stuff should be here, but I see nothing... it's not chocolate right? You're not allowed any chocolate," he loomed over me with a serious face.

I pushed his face away, "It's not chocolate... Shepard would have spotted it, and Garrus would have tattled," I hissed.

"Then what are we looking for?" Nick asked looking around the docks.

"Excuse me?" an Asari woman in a business suit walked over, "Are any of you Tali'Zorah Vas Neema?"

"That would be me," I stepped forward showing my identification.

"Please sign here," she showed me the contract, which I read carefully, trust no one in Illium, everything was in order, so I signed. "Thank you for doing business. Zura'Nul, this is your new master." the Asari waved over a young Quarian woman who was just looking wide-eyed at me. Even Nick looked wide-eyed. "No more stock market playing," she patted the Quarian on the shoulder.

Zura'Nul gave a sheepish nod, "I understand, thank you for looking after me Ms. Mado."

"Think nothing of it kid, I might not be fully Quarian but my father taught me a thing or two about the homeworld." she gave me one last nod, "Good to see the Quarians are curing their immune system," was all she said before leaving.

The docks were quiet with Only Shepard talking to the Dock worker with Zaeed, Garrus, and Miranda.

"Um, Nice to meet you, my name is Zura'Nul Nar Fiji, thank you for buying me," she gave us a small bow, "I, um, made a few mistakes at the stock market, I'll work very hard to pay you back!"

.

.

.

"Alright~, first things first, my name is Nick Walters, Space wizard, healer, sucker," he shook her hand, lighting her up like a supernova before letting her go, "and it's nice to meet you. Now," he turned to my smug smirk and gave me a single annoyed look, "This doesn't count."

I passed Zura'Nul a single bag of chips, "Open that for me please." she looked all kinds of confused, but did it anyways. Taking a single bite before giving them to Jak, "I couldn't have another bite~. Zura'Nul I free you from the contract."

"What?" She looked even more confused. "But the emancipation fees!"

I open my Omni tool and paid it in full, it wasn't that much, I'm happy to say that Quarian aren't a hot item, so we are rather cheap to free and expensive to own. "Paid for, you are as free as a chicken."

"Bird," Jenny corrected.

"Whatever. I just wasted over 100,000 credits on something I wanted and then let them go~. Aren't I selfish?" I smirked at Nick.

"Eh~, selfish~, irresponsible with money~," Jak tilted her hand side to side, eating my left-over chips.

"You went over your limit," Nick countered.

"I did, but then I was given 10 million Credits to play with."

"Yes, for the engineering crew," he hummed.

"Yes, and I'm part of the engineering crew~," I gave my most innocent face, "And I needed a Quarian slave girl to open my bag of chips, and as you can see, my chips were opened. I no longer need her." I walked over to Zura'Nul and removed her mask. She was scared, but seeing my face must have calmed her, just like me she had a pale complexion with Bio-enhances on her face but had white hair. I leaned in close, "I need you to give me the most scared face you can manage," I whispered, before backing away. As I gave Nick a full view of Zura'Nul he raise to his full height, Julee was right, Nick is a sucker for a damsel with a pretty face. Men~, so predictable. "I guess she can go back to living in the streets~," I sighed.

"I know you're playing me," he growled.

"Mmm, but what are you going to do about it? Are you going to let this young lady live in this hellhole? By herself? To prove a point? Rather cold-blooded of you Walters, I thought you were a better man~," I teased.

His face twisted through multiple emotions, Human faces are amazing, he changed from angry, to annoyed, to confused, to prideful, and landed on impressed. "Well played Tali'Zorah Vas Neema Nar Rayya, I'm still getting a rules lawyer, but you've impressed me enough for one." He summoned a stone tablet filled with Ancient Quarian writing. It was floating on some kind of piece of polished wood. An actual peace of Rannoch, of the homeworld, in my hands, I was touching a piece of home with my real fingers. Lia'Vael was right next to me staring down at its majesty.

"Um~, I'm a little lost," Zura'Nul muttered.

"Allow me to fill in the blanks," Nick smiled down at her. "Tali here made a deal with me, I gave her 50,000 credits for her to use on anything her heart desired, to be as selfish as possible. She played hard and loose with the rules, but I'm still impressed, so I gave her part one of the stories of Seesin'Xees written on a limestone tablet from Rannoch," he said it so gods damn nonchalantly it made me want to kick him in the quad, does he not know how valuable these are!? Oh wait, he gave me millions of credits and didn't care about how I spent his money. Looking over I find Zura'Nul gaping like one of Shepard's fish, at least someone here understood the importance of what I'm holding. "Don't get comfortable~, I still have four more and we still need a Rules Lawyer to look over Tali's cheating."

"I didn't cheat!" I hissed, "You didn't make the rules clear!" I gently place the tablet into my Bag of Holding, much to Zura'Nul's shock. "You just want me to wear that ridiculous Bunny girl outfit!" Julee ended up showing me every outfit she wanted to put me in. I could never show my face or body to anyone after seeing, let alone wearing, some of those!

"Guilty as charged~," he smiled, that Bosh'tet.

"I'll do it," Zura'Nul whispered.

"Mmm~?" Nick leaned in.

"I'll wear whatever you want, as long as I get the tablets!" she roared, her face the same color as a tomato.

"OH! Love the enthusiasm, but no can do~," Nick shrugged.

"What? WHY!? Is it because, you know," she mimed her breasts, "I'm not as big as Tali'Zorah?"

"Don't be silly, breasts are for literal babies, I love me a good thicc rump personally, and you Quarians don't seem to be lacking in that department." Keelah what a perv. "The problem is that you aren't yet an adult by Quarian standards, and trust me Ms. Nul, I'm going to need some adult consent." at least he has some sort of standards.

"Then, I'll use the tablet as my Pilgrimage gift and work for you."

"You could always use another test subject for project Quarian Might~," Lia'Vael called out. That would give the galaxy two super Quarians.

Nick narrowed his eyes, "Mmm~, maybe, but only if Tali agrees."

I blinked and pointed to myself, "Me?"

Nick shrugged, "Yes, the rules lawyer could still side with you, and all this would be unnecessary. We are on a dangerous mission, having to work with a terrorist organization and unlikely allies to save the galaxy. There's no reason to bring this young woman along, I'll even give her enough money to get the hell off this planet and somewhere safe with enough for her to have a good head start somewhere else." He opened his Omni tool and sent me another 200,000 credits, enough for any Quarian to get a gift and have some left over.

"Zura-"

"The Pilgrimage proves we are willing to give of ourselves for the greater good. What does it say about me if I turn my back on this?" she interrupted me.

I was shocked at my own words, "How?"

"Your show is very popular," she showed me a clip from my cartoon series. It may have been a bit overdramatized as I talked down to Udina. But damn if I didn't look cool. "You're a hero, you stood where others would falter. So much was lost after the Morning War, our people need those tablets, we need a piece of us before," she pulled on her enviro-suit, "THIS! Please give me this chance."

I gritted my teeth; can I really tell her to take the money and go? I'm sure if Shepard gave me a million credits and told me to go, I would have just snuck into the Normandy anyway, I'm stubborn like that. "Do you know what you're asking for? I'm working with Commander Shepard to stop the collectors from abducting humans, Cerberus is working with us, and this mission could be generously called suicidal."

"All the better I'm there then. You need more people you can trust to watch your back," She had a determined look on her face.

I let out a long sigh, I just wanted to win, save a Quarian from Slavery, and send her off with enough money to buy a pre-owned Corvette, and I would have gotten away with it if it wasn't for that pesky Quarian stubbornness... Wait~. "We need to ask Shepard!" You need a captain's permission to live on their ship!

"Ask me what?" Shepard asked walking over with Zaeed and Miranda. "And who's this?"

Zura'Nul fumbled a bit giving a sloppy salute. "I-I'm Zura'Nul! Captain Shepard!"

"Uh, okay." He looked over at me with a confused look on his face. "At ease," he ordered. "Can someone bring me up to speed?"

"Right, this is Zura'Nul, she wants to join the Normandy," I shot him murder eyes, telling him to say no.

"Absolutely not!" Miranda answered. Anyone other than her would have been better, anybody, Grunt, Jenny, EDI, ANYBODY!

"That's a shame because I was planning to give the ground crew my super armors if we did~," Nick drawled. Fuuuuuuuck! Nick just loves making Miranda's day worse, if she says something he's there to say the opposite, and he tends to have better bribing tools!

"We don't need any more engineers," she hissed.

"You can never have enough, this isn't a kitchen Lawson, it's one of the most advanced pieces of technology in the galaxy, I seriously doubt they couldn't use an extra hand, a super-powered hand~." Nick offered.

"Ms. Nul please ignore these two," Shepard sighed, "You do understand what you are asking for, there is a loose AI on that ship, look there she is!" Shepard pointed to EDI's human body moving the large Prothean artifact out of the Shuttle Bay with ease.

"Shepard, where do you want this?" EDI asked.

"Oh, uh, just put it over there, Liara should be here soon and have her own people move it away, Thanks." he looked back to Zura'Nul, "See... uncontrolled AI." I facepalmed.

Zura'Nul had a confused look on her face, I couldn't blame her, EDI's body was extremely lifelike, and even I had trouble telling that she was a robot. "Uh, I'll take your word for it, but I still want to go! Tali'Zorah is a hero of the Migrant fleet, if she trusts you to lead her, I trust you as well!" When did I become a bloody hero that inspired the younger generation!? I'm going to tear out my hair!

"We don't have the budget to hire another engineer," Shepard sighed, that was a lie, we were drowning in money after that heist.

"No worries Shep!" Nick interrupted, "I'm more than happy to cover it! Lia, sweety, how much do I pay you?"

"Hum, for the experiments or as an engineer?" he pays you for both?

"Both."

"Hum, it was 150,000 credits as a sign-up bonus, along with the Badassium, arc-reactor, as my pilgrimage gift, and the clothes. you are paying me 10,000 credits a week for engineering," she answered.

10,000! Per week! What the hell!? That's more than I get for my Cartoon royalties! I looked over to Shepard, "You don't even pay me~," I whispered to him as Nick started negotiating payment with Zura'Nul.

He shrugged, "You have all my money," he whispered back.

"Yeah, to stop you from buying useless things."

"The model of the Alliance dreadnought Kilimanjaro isn't a waste of money," he hissed. "My mother serves on that ship."

"Don't you try and justify your ridiculous expenses, buy weapons, armor, mods, not toys?"

"They're collectibles~."

"And the dozens of dead fish~?"

"I'm busy, I forget to feed them sometimes," he gritted his teeth.

"Then buy an automatic fish feeder you dork, stop wasting money."

"Pets are good for the soul~," he huffed.

"That's why you bought the ugly rat."

"Sir Reginald the 8th is a mighty Space hamster, don't call him names."

"Yeah, I saw your little Space Hamster escaping the kitchen with a bag of trail mix like a thief in the night."

"Like I taught him~. Survival at any cost."

"You're an idiot, now please tell her that you can't hire her, we both know Nick will give her a bunch of money, and if we ask maybe a golem for protection."

"You think she can help?"

"It's not that~, it's just... we're on a very dangerous mission, one mistake and we're dead, I didn't want Lia'Vael to be here either, but Nick got to her first," I sighed. The look of hope Lia'Vael had when we first met was blinding, I have no idea how long she was on the streets, Nick appearing and giving her everything she needed must have been a gift straight from the ancestors. I'm not saying Nick is a bad guy, it's just wherever he goes he just happens to be in the right place at the right time. "I just worry."

"Well, what did it feel like when you joined the Normandy for the first time?"

"Keelah, I'm being abducted by a human that doesn't know what a shower is," I teased.

"After that~," he huffed.

"What am I doing here? Standing in the most advanced frigate in the Galaxy, hunting a madman who has an army of Geth."

"And then?"

"I chewed out Crosby for an hour for playing around in the engine room."

"I know, I remember that, it took me and Adams to pull you away from the poor girl."

"The Engine room is not a play pin!" I hissed.

He nodded, "I agree, it took you less than a week to be Adams' right-hand woman, you know the Tantalus drive core better than just about anyone there, I wouldn't be surprised if Quarian ships had their own."

"You're joking, do you have any idea how expensive they are?" I joked.

"That's not the point, the point is that a bossy Quarian was able to adapt to her surroundings and thrive, all she needed was a chance."

"Quarians aren't bossy, we're assertive, but I get what you mean. Fine, you can hire her if you want but if we take over the Normandy there is no one to blame but yourself," I huffed.

"I think I can live with that."

"All go as high as 200,000 Credits, the rest of the tablets, and 2 arc-reactors, but you have to wear anything Julee makes and not whine... too much. You'll need Dr. Chakwas's permission to work as her Nurse and Mordin's to work in the lab as his assistant, and Shepard's... I guess."

"I also need funding for the Med Bay, Tech Lab, and engineering," Zura'Nul demanded.

"5,000 for each."

"No way! 10,000 each, like you have with Lia'Vael."

"You're crazy!" Nick gawked.

"I've seen what you want to put me in!" she points to the book filled with naughty clothes designs. "By Quarian law, I should arrest you," she hissed.

"... 7,500." that Bosh'tet isn't even defending himself!

"10,000! Don't think I don't know what you're planning~," she hissed. "If the Quarian immune system is cured they're going to need clothes, and surprise-surprise, you just happen to have clothes made for Quarians."

"... 10,000 you say? Let's get that in writing," Nick muttered.

"I want a raise," Lia'Vael spoke up.

"A RAISE? You've barely started working for me!?" Nick gasped.

"I know you stare at my ass," she crossed her arms

"I'll give you a 5,000-credit raise," he caved immediately.

"Happy doing business with you," they shook hands. That perverted Bosh'tet... does he stare at my ass? Can I get paid?

"All this is moot!" Miranda called out, "We don't need a nurse or lab assistant."

"Uh, have you seen poor Karin? She has to look after 115 people, I'm surprised she can even sleep! Just this morning, Sarah's foot got caught on one of the doors breaking a toe, EDI thought she was having a heart attack-"

"There was a burning in my chest," EDI called out.

"You were just embarrassed being caught looking at porn by your husband, and made up a poor excuse!"

"... you have no proof of this, my core could have been malfunctioning."

"Are you calling my work subpar!?" Nick roared.

"If the servo motors fit~," she snapped her fingers.

"HOLD ME BACK! HOLD ME BACK!" Nick ordered, being held back by Lia'Vael and Jak, "You're real cocky for a fancy washing machine!"

"I'll clean the floor with your face!" EDI yelled back.

"... Alright that one was good, but you need to work on your trash talk," Nick immediately calmed down, like he wasn't going crazy.

"Jeff told me as long as I was louder than the other guy, you tend to win arguments," EDI answered with a head tilt.

"Nah, loud words aren't enough, if your opponent can deliver a sick burn before you get loud, you'll only look like a loser," Nick corrected.

"What the hell are you doing?" Shepard asked.

"EDI asked me to help her with her trash-talking, so at random times I'll call her out and she needs to come up with something on the spot. She's doing very well," Nick complimented.

"Seriously~," I deadpanned, it's all fun and games until she takes over the galaxy.

"You never know when you need to verbally burn a fool," he shrugged, "Anyway, Zura here specializes in medicine, science, and of course Engineering. And since Lawson's been crying-"

"I'm not crying."

"-About Engineering, we might be able to help Chakwas help in the Med Bay and Mordin in the Tech lab," Nick shrugged.

"Mmm, Zura, you do understand what this means right? You are putting yourself in grave danger, but I don't think you understand, Nick, can you show her, truly show her?"

Nick just looked at Shepard for a long moment, before nodding. "Jak will catch you," he warned Zura'Nul before Illium's gravity slammed onto my shoulders with the rage of an angry Krogan, the heat was burning me from the inside out, and my breathing was way too shallow, it felt like I was back in the alley with Saren's assassins, fresh out of grenades, jammed gun, and there wasn't a group of heavily arm weirdos around the corner to save me. But even though the pressure, I stood on my feet, I couldn't say the same for Zura or Lia, Zura was being held up by Jak, while Lia was being helped by Ayla. Zaeed looked fine, hand on his sword, along with Shepard who looked like he did this every day, EDI was confused blinking rapidly unable to control herself, Miranda looked a little wobbly, and Jenny looked ready to throw a biotic shockwave, but before anything happened it just when away, the pressure vanished, I could breathe, and the fire that was threatening to engulf me fizzed out.

"D-D-Damn I-I-I-it," Lia stuttered, "Y-y-yours was d-d-different."

"I didn't want to take it too far, Sky doesn't have a filter, either you're strong enough or you're not, there is no middle ground with her. Still, good job. Not everyone could stay on their feet," Nick laughed like he didn't just try and crush us with his power.

"I d-d-didn't," Lia smirked.

"Give yourself some credit, you might be a bit loose but you're standing, far better than before. How is she?" he looked over to Jak.

"Out of it, give her a second," Jak whispered, helping Zura'Nul to her feet.

Zura took a deep breath, like she was drowning but was able to break the surface for air, coughing out her lungs. "W-wha?"

"That, Zura'Nul Nar Fiji, is what danger is, what death feels like, if you want to join my crew, know that's what you are facing, so I'm going to ask you one more time, do you want to do this?" Shepard asked.

Zura'Nul looked at him, then at Nick, who gave her an apologetic smile, and then at me. I don't even know what was on my face, was I scared, nervous, confused? Was I smiling like a crazy person or just blank-faced?

"I could have died from a cold you know? I could have accidentally eaten something that could have killed me, cut my suit, or just slept in the wrong alley, I might not have a gun pointed at my face, but I know what it is like to face death every day." she wobbled to her feet with the help of Jak and gave a salute, well she threw her limp noodle arm in an approximation of a salute, "Where do you need me, Captain?"

"And here I thought Tali was the special Chosen one, I guess every Quarian has an iron will~. Nick, can you make a room for her?" Shepard asked.

"Got ya, boss, ~," Nick gave him a salute and lead Zura'Nul and Lia'Vael back onto the ship.

"I also want that super armor!" Shepard called out, Nick just gave him a thumbs up.

"So, what was that?" a familiar voice called out. Turning we find Liara giving us a confused look, she looked a lot bluer than before, is that normal?

"Liara!" Shepard brought her into a hug, "I got you a gift!"

-/-

Nick POV

It didn't take long for me to make Zura her own room, she lasted a whole six seconds before she flopped on her new bed and was out like a light. I doubt she even understood the magic around us, she was just tired. So I left her to her dreams, I also put a Magic Dream Catcher over her bed, intimidation can have some pretty nasty side effects if your will isn't strong enough, and no matter what she says she's definitely not ready for my power. I left her to her dreams. Lia told me that she'll watch over her and give her the rundown on her duties.

"Another lady Nick~, you're going to make me jealous?" Kasumi teased, sitting by the bar.

I smiled at her, she was looking better, but she's a master thief so I couldn't take her smile at face value. "Is it working~," I smirked, sitting next to her.

"Mmm~, a little, but the millions of Credits you got me is helping me forgive you."

"Oof~, Saved by the money~," I joked, "Wanna hit up Illium? I heard there was a Shepard VI for sale and I neeeeed it!"

"You need therapy," she joked.

"That doesn't sound like a no~," I sang.

"Mmm, sure. Can't live in a bar for the rest of my life. Even though I am sure this magic juice is de-aging me." she squinted at her alcohol.

"Nah that's just some fire whiskey, if drank right you can burp out a fireball," I grabbed her glass chugging the drink, swished it in my mouth, and burped out a small fireball. "It also has a cheering charm to it, relaxes all your muscles, and drives away the cold."

"That explains the warmth I'm feeling. I usually have to be in pretty deep to feel this warm."

"Please tell me you're not drowning yourself in alcohol, I will have Sky babysit you," I huffed.

She scrunched her face at me, "Can't a lady enjoy a drink without some man telling her how to feel?"

"Of course, but this lady is my friend, and I don't want her to hide behind a bottle. I want her to enjoy life, you haven't tried to steal any of my rings in days," I flashed her my ring of telekinesis, "This one allows you to move things with your mind~, no biotics needed."

"Gasp! Are you saying I can steal things at a distance!?" she swooned, "I'll have you know Nat as already taught me Mage hand~."

"Yes, but this one only needs to be charged and is limited by your imagination, none of that '30 feet' nonsense."

"And I get to keep the ring?" she leaned forward

I shrugged, "Until a better thief steals it from you~."

"Mmm~, are you challenging me, Walters?" She narrowed her eyes at me.

"No no no... yeah~, I've only seen the great Kasumi Goto from my side, I want to know what it's like to have her chase me for once~."

"You have a hammerspace," she deadpanned.

"Mmm, that does seem unfair~," I summoned some of my old necklaces of minor strength and health regen, along with a bag of holding on my waste and a few rings. "Is this enough~?"

"Gasp! To tempt a woman, men nowadays~, flaunting their business all over the place, showing off their wealth. You never know what kind of woman might... get handsy~."

"Goodness! Only a proper rapscallion would think of stealing from an innocent man like me~," I chuffed in an English accent.

"Well, we don't want that~, allow me to escort you, my good man, you can trust me~," her smile said otherwise.

"See that you do! I'll even reward you with a proper gift~."

"Gasp! Mister Walters! Have some decency!"

"Nonsense, that good commander fellow wanted me to get you top-of-the-line Magical armor, and with a strapping young lady like yourself on a dangerous mission like this, I couldn't think of anything less than the very best!"

"Then you have my thanks, Ser Walters! Come! Illium awaits!" We held it for a whole 5 seconds before we broke out laughing and marched out to the landing bay. She was already wearing one of my Rings by the time we got out there.

"Ah you must be Nick Walters," Liara called out.

Asari information broker

Liara T'Soni

Lvl: 41

Age: 108

HP: 740/800

BP: 1590/2000

Str: never underestimated archaeologist's right hook

Vit: late nights and rough mornings

Dex: kept up with a spectre

Wis: sometimes sacrifice is necessary

Int: sometimes violence is necessary

Cha: cute as a button, deadly as a blade

Luk: She's a hero

Ailments:

PTSD

Burnout

Constant migraines

Joint pains

heart palpitations

Dr. Liara T'Soni is an Asari researcher who has spent the past fifty years of her life studying Prothean technology and culture, specializing in the Prothean extinction. She was born on Thessia in 2077, making her "only" 108—barely an adult in Asari terms. She already has a great deal of insight into the Protheans and is a highly trained user of biotics.

Liara has become an information broker on Illium. Due to her association with Shepard, the Illusive Man gathered intelligence on her and erroneously came to the conclusion that she has begun working for the Shadow Broker, blacklisting her from Shepard's prospective new team.

She knows you came from another dimension.

"Dr. T'Soni~, a pleasure," I reached out shaking her hand and clamping on and began to heal her. "You know Doctor, Burnout is no joke, many people have died because they didn't take care of themselves." She gave me a confused look.

"Aren't handshakes usually only 3 seconds, this is easily 5, or is it different in your world?" she teased.

"I do apologize for my big meaty paws, but I find having a good grip on my patients makes it easier to keep them in place," I smiled at her.

"I... didn't know I was sick."

"Oh~, so the headaches, joint pains, the burnout, are what? Everyday things?" I teased.

"I have a stressful job," she countered.

"All the better to take care of yourself~." She lit up like the setting sun for a moment as I healed all her ailments. "There we go~," I smiled letting go of her.

She had a wide-eyed look on her face, "Oh~, That's nice." she massaged her forehead.

You can save the world back-to-back, but gain the power to relieve annoying pains, and you'll become a legend in no time. "For the Docking expenses. It couldn't have been cheap."

She waved it away, "It's nothing, my friends needed me. I also got a nice gift," she gestured to the Prothean statue. "I heard it used to belong to an arms dealer by the name of Hock." Kasumi sneered at the name for a moment.

I shrugged, "Never heard of him," I smiled. She just smiled back before walking back to Shepard. "She is a really good information broker," I muttered to Kasumi.

"You think she knows anything?"

"You still have your Kent glasses?" I asked.

She pulled out her glasses from her side pocket, "Never leave home without them," she smirked putting them on. I put on my own, I'm crazy but running around an Asari world after I humiliated them was not a good idea at best, suicidal at worst.

"Then off to adventure!" Ayla cheered leading us into the city.

-/-

Nos Astra was a beautiful city if a bit jarring, it was a bunch of skyscrapers connected with sky bridges and sky car docks, and the inside was made to look like a stacked mall. Unlike the Krogan pyramid, this design shot straight up in a circular pattern, it was beautiful, filled with lights and people having fun. Most of the ship crew has been given shore leave as we hunted down our two last recruits, leaving a skeleton crew behind, and a squad of Knight golems. We were pretty much all over the mall but a small group of us, consisting of Shepard, Dagna, Ava, Tali, Jacob, Garrus, Nat, Kasumi, Lawson, Jenny, and myself had been sitting at a food court after checking out the shops, while the others with more Shopping power went off to buy stuff.

Most of the people here were Asari, but you would see other races in between the sea of blues and purples. Have you ever heard of the uncanny valley effect? It's when you see something that looks human but isn't. It just doesn't have that thing that makes someone human, I don't know what it was for the Asari, Quarians had glowing eyes, bio-enhancers on their face, and hips that don't quit, Turians were completely inhuman so it was easy to get past the alien thing, as long as you don't feel uncomfortable with their unflinching predatory vision. Asari though, they were different, maybe it was the fact that they didn't have eyebrows but still painted them on, or maybe the head crest, it was more likely than not the blue skin, but it was more than that, the way they walked, talked, and acted. It was like some kids following a popular trend and trying to act cool, it was disconcerting.

"We're being followed~," Nat sang.

"They're not very good," Ava smirked.

"We all have to start somewhere," Kasumi giggled.

Behind us was a human and Asari, they tried the whole kissing thing a block down thinking that it would make me uncomfortable, they were very bad at it. It looked like a shark trying to kiss a beach ball, it only made me notice more. There was a turian woman on the floor above us, who has been looking over to us every few seconds while keeping a decent upper ground, and a Krogan and salarian were up ahead of us... reading physical newspapers, with holes cut into them so they could see us.

"I don't know, these guys look like master criminals~," I giggled.

"Maybe they want an autograph~," Dagna cheered.

"Mmm, but who here would be the celebrity?" Garrus asked.

.

.

.

We looked over to Shepard.

"It could be anyone." Shepard answered looking around for the person of interest, "keep an eye out."

"It's you~," we all said at the same time.

"What~? Don't be ridiculous."

"You had this problem back when we were hunting Saren," Tali huffed, "Every time we had to go back to the Citadel, we had to stand like 10 feet away as your groupies swarmed you."

"Okay~, but how do they know I'm even here, most people still don't think I'm alive," Shepard countered.

"Oh, I don't know~, I guess they knew that 'this is your favorite spot in Illium~'," Garrus drawled.

"... I needed that discount," Shepard answered, "But that doesn't really answer the question, what do they want from me?

"Hey! Sh-sh-sh-sh-sh-sh-sh!" I shushed them, "I think their leader is coming over, act cool," I whispered, leaning back and checking my nails trying to act nonchalantly.

"I hope I'm not interrupting~," it was a human man with a chiseled face, perfect teeth, and enough swagger to drown a hippo. The man looked like he came out of a top 10 good-looking guys vid, slapped on a leather vest, no shirt of course, shirts are for the weak that don't have a six-pack, apparently, blue jeans and some kind of scaled boots, I wanna say crocodile. He took an empty seat and placed a gun on the table.

"Oh~, very intimidating," Jacob teased.

"Ah~, bravery in the face of danger, I like that," he through a salacious smirk at Jacob. "Names Bain Massani~." OH SHIT!? Apparently, that was the emotion going around because we all just stared at me, I think he misinterpreted our looks, because he gained a smirk, "I see you heard of me."

"... Kinda," I answered. I looked over to Shep, who was looking over at me in the same amount of shock, I mean... what are the chances~. "So, what can we do for you Bain~?"

"I'm here for a bounty, I would like this to go smoothly."

"You think you and your little group of piss-ants can take me in?" Jenny laughed.

Bain gave her a confused look, "Uh, I have no idea who you are Doll face, I'm here for him~." he pointed across the group landing on... me.

I looked at him, then the gun, back to him, back to the gun, him, gun, him, gun, before pointing to myself, "MEEEEE~!?"

"You are Nick Walters, yes? The glasses threw me off but after you took them off, I was certain it was you," Bain smirked.

"Kasumi and Jenny started laughing, "OH GOD YOU SHOULD SEE YOUR FACE!" Kasumi chortled; she even snorted a little.

"SOMEONE TAKE A PICTURE!" Jenny laughed pointing at me. Lawson obliged, good to see they agree on something.

"Who would want me? What have I done to get a bounty!?" I was flabbergasted, I don't think I was that much of a menace, I think the Alliance may not be happy with me taking so much money.

"According to your profile, you burned down the Asari republic... how you burned down a government I have no idea, but they want you bad."

I snapped my fingers, "oh yeah~, I did do that! If you don't mind how much am I worth?" I've never had a bounty, not even Orlais has given me a bounty.

"3 million," he answered.

"HA! Those are pussy numbers!" Jenny teased.

"What the hell! I burned down an entire government, uprooted billions upon billions of lives, and I only got 3 million!? This is unfair!" I was outraged, "Jenny What was your bounty?"

"Triple digits~, chump."

"Garrus!?"

He gave me an apologetic shrug, "Those mercs really wanted me dead,"

"Shep?" I was losing hope, am I the lowest bounty on the ship?

"... It isn't a legal bounty~," he couldn't even lie to my face.

Kasumi patted me on the shoulder, "Yours is bigger than mine," she had another one of my necklaces.

"That's because you don't have one!" I hissed. "I feel so small and insignificant."

"Hey-hey~, your valuable to me, literally." Bain pointed his gun at me, "So if we could do this calmly."

I huffed, "You all sit back, me and Freddie will handle this," I told the group. Combining prestidigitation and inspiration, I created a perfect illusion of Freddie Mercury sitting on the table next to ours.

"Freddie Mercury!?" Jacob gasped. Huh, who knew Jacob liked the classics.

"Who?" Bain asked before a piano was heard throughout the tower and Freddie started singing 'Don't Stop Me Now'.

Acting quickly, I slammed the table causing it to tilt and slap the gun out of Bain's hand, catching him completely off guard and allowing me to hop the table and drop kick him in the chest.

Minimal Strength + sneak attack + fisticuffs = 113 points of bludgeoning damage.

Sending him flying ass over tea kettle into the empty table across from us. Grabbing the gun Bain lost I launched it at the Turian on the floor above us trying to get her gun in place, only to get domed by my impromptu weapon, dropping her. I turned to the krogan getting him to Charge by taunting him.

"OLÉ!" I called out as I dodged him, before wrapping my hands behind him and sending him to Suplex City, slamming him into the floor. He was out of the fight for now, but the Asari was coming in hot with a Biotic rush, right into my Lariat, she made a choking noise before I dropped her. Well, she was so kind to make herself a living missile, I shouldn't waste it. I grabbed and launched her at the wide-eyed Salarian dropping both of them.

"RAAAAR!" the Krogan roared, pushing my strength I met his charge.

Strength contest!

Nick Walters vs Cal Kor

Victor: Nick Walters!

The Krogan was stopped much to his shock, "WHAT THE-" I unleashed a headbutt but held on to his hand so he snapped back giving him whiplash before I lifted him off the ground and launched him at the last human holding a shotgun, dropping them both.

I bumped my head to the music, inspiration is an insane power, it boosts you passed your max without causing pain, everyone was kinda moving in slow motion. "Don't stop me now~," I sang with Freddie, as he began to fade, the music being replaced with a bunch of groaning Bounty hunters.

"W-who, W-what are you?" Bain groaned.

I just smirked at him, "I'm Nick... your dad's friend~." He gave me a confused look before I cast sleep on him. He didn't have a concussion so he should be ok... probably. I looked back at the crew, who looked rather impressed, except Jenny who wanted me to get punched in the face. "So... who wants to tell Zaeed he's a papa~."

-/-

Zaeed POV

"I demand your pardon?" I demanded. Shepard and his little band of crazies called me to a police station.

"That's your son," Ayla pointed to the young man sitting in a holding cell with the rest of his hunting crew. They all looked like someone gave them a good beating.

"Mmm, see that's what I thought you said, but I don't have a son," I corrected her.

She shook her head, "His name is Bain Massani."

"Someone's taking you for a ride, the galaxy is a large place, lots of 'Massani's' out there," I huffed. Not the first dumbass to use my name.

"He looks exactly like you," She pointed out, I'm not going to lie to myself we had some similarities, but most humans look like humans. "And~," she added, holding up her magic book and waving it side to side, "The Maker confirmed it."

Right~ her 'god' "I don't believe in the gods."

"What!? But you've seen me use holy magic! You were there!" she gawked.

"All I saw was fancy lights and you swinging around a mace, it's going to take a lot more to convince me," I huffed.

"Are you testing me, Massani?" She hissed Narrowing her eyes at me

"Your rather spunky for a brat that couldn't weigh more than 100 pounds, wet," I chuckled.

"I'll have you know Massani, I kicked my fair share of ass, people fear me," she growled.

"Ayla~, I got your hot chocolate~!" Walters called out coming around the corner with a mug and donut. Why does he have glasses, and was his nose always so big, and when did he grow a mustache?

"Thank you~!" she cheered skipping over to Walters. Yep... quaking in my boots~.

"Be careful, Tali's around and for some reason, she's like 50% more sneaky when Chocolate is involved," he stage-whispered. "Zaeed! How's the family reunion?"

"I'm not his father."

"I'm guessing you didn't care for the gods?" he asked. I just huffed. "Yeah, not much of a follower myself," he passed me a sheet of paper, "Got Mordin to run a DNA test, don't worry~, Chakwas didn't break any doctor-patient confidentiality or whatever~, Mordin stole it from the Med Bay when she was busy checking in on Zura."

For a single sheet of paper, it was heavier than any rifle I have ever carried. Turning it over I saw the proof in black and white. I looked back up to the young man who was glaring holes at my forehead, "Well, shit." How did this happen? I looked at the kid's age, 27, what the hell was I doing 27 years ago? I looked deep into the kid's eyes, "... Jessie. Shit." He had her eyes. The same eyes that cursed me out as I left the house... "Why didn't she tell me?"

"You, okay?" Walters asked.

"What the fuck am I supposed to do here Walters?"

"You can talk to him?"

"He's a grown man. He doesn't need me in his life."

"Zaeed... I can never see my dad again, but I sometimes hear his advice in times of fear and confusion. You know what he would say here?" I didn't say anything, just staring at the angry young man across from me. "Tomorrow morning, are you going to be okay not doing anything or will you think of this moment every time you have a second to think for the rest of your life? Vito is gone Zaeed, so what drives you for tomorrow? Money, power, women? It could be family." This time I did look over at him, but he wasn't looking at anything, just staring out into his memories.

"... So, what is he in there for?"

"He tried to Cash my bounty~," he bounced his eyebrows at me.

"I don't know who that guy is, but I was after Walters!" the young man roared, getting up close to the bars. I looked back to Walters, who played with his Glasses, it must be some kind of magic.

"I'm his Lawyer, Saul Goodman. You're in big trouble young man, Bain Massani, was it?"

"What the hell are you talking about!? Walters is a wanted criminal!?" Bain roared, "I'm part of the Hunter's guild! Look me up!"

"Benny, can I call you Benny?"

"NO!"

"Benny listen, any other man at any other time, you would have gotten a slap on the wrist for the fight and let go, but you picked the wrong man at the wrong time, see Mr. Walters is part of Spectre Shepard's crew, and while Illium may be in the terminus system they pretend to follow the Council's rules to gain some of their protection, and I'm sure you understand that messing with a spectre's investigation isn't a good thing." Walters drawled. "I can have made it so none of you get out of this cell, or worse, shove you out on ground level, and I hope you understand what will happen to you when the sun came up. Lucky for you Mr. Massani, I was able to locate your father-"

"I don't have a father," he growled.

"Then you better thank the man next to me, it's thanks to him that you're getting out of here at all."

"Son, I suggest you keep your mouth shut," I advised.

"I'm not your son and you're not my father!"

"BENNY!" Walters calmed the situation, "Let my words sink into that punched in skull of yours. Mr. Zaeed Massani here is not your dad," the hell? "He is your father."

"What's the difference?" he huffed.

"Any dumbass can be a father, one drunk night can handle that, a dad is a title only given to men who were there to watch over you, to teach you, to love you, to build you up when you thought yourself broken. Zaeed may not have been there then, but he's here now. He is the only one saving you from a fate worse than death."

"And I should be grateful? For abandoning my mother?" he sneered, oh yeah, he's my boy. "He wasn't even there when she died!" oh Jessie~, I fucked up, didn't I?

"Nobody's perfect Benny. Zaeed didn't even know you existed until I called him, and here he is. It's never too late to reconnect. You will be released within an hour, I would suggest you talk, time waits for no man," he huffed and walked out of the room with Ayla close behind.

"Really~, Groucho glasses?" was the last thing I heard Ayla say before the door shut behind them plunging the room into silence.

.

.

.

"... Boy."

"What do you want?" He was angry, rightly so, Jessy must have told him about me.

"Respect your elders, brat. I may not have been there when you were young but I'm here now and I'll bend you over my knee."

"I'd like to see you try."

"Watch it you cheeky shit, Walters may have tenderized you, but I'll grind you down." I should have asked for some fatherly advice, "... how are you?"

"What the? I got beat up by some crazy space ninja to an annoying song sung by a ghost and thrown in jail! How do you think I'm feeling!?" he slammed the bars.

"You got cocky."

"If I knew-"

"-you would have still been beaten. Walters is an enigma, he has power beyond any normal person, trust me on this, he was playing with you, if you were anyone else, he would have beaten you into a hospital bed. You let your pride take command and got humbled, take this for what it is, a lesson."

"I don't need your advice," he hissed.

"Well, that's too damn bad, coz you're going to swallow it. The galaxy is a dangerous place, filled with dangers that you can't imagine, the second you think you have figured things out and are flying high something slams you back to earth. Be grateful it was Walters, I doubt he even cares. Did you even read his profile? Any sort of research? Background check? Did you even read his bounty poster? I have. Wanted alive for 3 million creds, wanted by Matriarch Benezia, who has been dead for 2 years, whoever made this claim was never going to pay, they were going to kill you and take Walters if he didn't use you to find whoever wanted him before he killed them all. I'm not going to tell you to stop being a bounty hunter and be something 'respectable', life doesn't work like that, do what makes you happy, but at least do it right. There probably isn't going to be a second chance." I sighed. How is this the most exhausting thing I've done in my whole life?

"... Why, why did you leave her? She told me stories about you, that you were some kind of Space hero, that you went out into space to fight all the bad guys."

God damnit Jes. "... your mother and I... were in the First contact war, barely 20, and was scared out of our minds, Aliens~," I sighed, "General Williams saw the writing on the wall, no air support, ammunition was running low, Food was almost empty, and most of us were fresh out of basic, and the Turians was fighting a total war, to them, there were no citizens. Shanxi was an out-of-the-way world that didn't have much to it, so when the Turians arrived blasting everything to dust we were caught with our pants down. Some people thought we could have won if we fought back a little longer, those people are dumbasses, most of the soldiers there were just a bunch of kids fresh out of basic trying to do their jobs, get paid, and go to college, not all of us were Commander Shepard or Anderson or Ryder, so in order to save our sorry ass General William sacrificed his military honor and surrendered, and a month later the second fleet beat the Turians back. Thousands of people were saved thanks to one man choosing people's lives over his pride."

"I already know this, I read about it in school."

"YOU KNOW NOTHING!" I roared causing him to flinch back, "You read about it in a book, I was there, I saw the bodies of dead, of men and women holding their children trying to save them with their bodies! I smelt the burning of flesh as Turians burned the dead, I watched families starve so their children could live, and I've seen the lifeless eyes of children who saw their families be butchered. You, know, nothing," I hissed. "And what did the Alliance do? To the man who paused the war, to save his soldiers and the people he swore to protect? They demoted him, they made him a pariah, and they dragged his name through the dirt. I couldn't stand for that, I fought against it, I made noise, and people got upset, your mother, rest her soul, didn't want any of it, she finished her time and wanted to rest, she wanted to live her life... with me, but I couldn't live in a place that did that to a man I respected, we argued, she wanted to live in a little farmstead in Eden Prime, I didn't want to live anywhere near the Alliance... we argued some more. And I left. And that was it, got some of my old buddies, made a merc group, and got into trouble." I let out a sigh, I need a... cigar. On one of the desks was a pair of fresh cigars with a note.

"Take one and pass it around~" with a smirking cartoon Walters, Walters is one of those people I don't want to get on the wrong side of.

"You smoke?"

"Why? You got one?" I passed him one of the cigars. "Whoa~, this is a real cigar... where'd you get this?"

"I know a guy." I lit my cigar and tossed my lighter to him. Doing the same he tried passing me the lighter, "Keep it, stole it from my old man, who stole it from his old man."

"Then shouldn't I steal it from you?" He joked, for the first time since I got here, he smiled. Oh, come on! He gets my grumpy face but Jessy's smile, that's seems unfair.

"The cycle has to end sometime, why not now. You got something planned when you get out of here?" I asked, watching him play with the gold flip lighter.

"Why? are you gonna teach me how to ride a bike?"

"Don't be a wise-ass, that also gets you shot."

"The Alliance has something going on, some sort of Race to Andromeda or whatever, thought I'd see what the big deal was with that. I thought catching Walters would get me some spending money. Guess not."

"Andromeda? That's far."

He shrugged, "didn't have much going on here, wanted to take my chances, never know, I might become a king or something."

"I should warn you; I got it from a fairly reliable source that being a king kinda sucks, nothing but a bunch of whiners and boot lickers, and not the good boot lickers that actually do their job, the kind that want to steal your shoes," I joked.

"I'll... keep that in mind. So, what were you doing in Illium?"

"I'm... saving the galaxy." that sounds way weirder to say when you mean it.

He just gave me a blank look, "Seriously? I'm not a kid anymore."

"Zaeed? You in here?" Shepard asked walking into the room, "We gotta... Situation upstairs."

"Shepard, tell this brat we're saving the galaxy~."

"Ah~, Bain, I see you're talking to your old man, take it from me, you think they're gonna be in your life forever... and then they're not. So have your talk. And yes, Zaeed is helping us defeat the collectors."

"The Collectors? You mean those freaks that have been taking people?"

"I'm guessing you heard?" Shepard sighed.

"They hit a place not too long ago, Fehl Prime, I have a safe house out there, got video evidence of them breaking up the place and taking a bunch of people, and also heard you destroyed one of their ships. I'm not sure you know what that means, the collectors are the boogeymen of the Terminus, the fact that it was you who did it, has the Terminus throwing a hissy fit, every pirate and slaver, every idiot with a ship and gun is getting all kinds of panicky. If you're really working out there, be careful, every dumb ass that wants to make a name for themselves thing taking on commander Shepard, well, that's usually the fastest way to either get blown up or be famous."

Shepard gave him a chuckle, "not the first time I ruffled some feathers, won't be the last. Stay out of trouble, we're upstairs," he told me and walked out the door.

"... Holy shit, he is saving the galaxy," one of Benny's little merc friends gawked. Bain rolled his eyes, but I could see the pride in his grin.

I spent the next hour talking about his work, training, and a few of my stories, but when we noticed that no one had come in to release them I headed out to find out what was going on. You could imagine my surprise when I found Walters sitting across an Asari woman in red armor, with the rest of the police hiding away.

"What did I miss?" I asked, keeping an eye on the Asari.

"Zaeed~! How's Benny? The kid had one hell of a chip on his shoulder," Walters called out from his swivel chair.

"He's fine. Came up here to find out what was holding up with his release."

"Ahh~, yeah Strawberry Shortcake over there is causing quite the kerfuffle. Yo Anaya!" Walters waved over an Asari police officer, "Can you please release the idiots downstairs, I'll keep an eye on this psychopath."

"She's a Justicar," the officer corrected.

I raised an eyebrow, "Justicar? As in~."

"The very same one we're looking for, and she threatened to kill you and everyone in this building Anaya, I don't give a flying fuck what she thinks she is. Shepard might get upset with me but if she tries anything I'll remove her from the census."

"You speak highly of your skills, but can you back up your words?" The Justicar countered.

"HA! But of course I can~, why do you think I stayed behind? Shepard wanted me to keep you from doing something stupid, like killing these poor Police officers who were only doing their jobs. Which I still find weird, isn't everything in Illium legal?" he asked me. I shrugged.

"Murder is still illegal," Anaya answered.

"That does make some sense, you can't go around killing the taxpayers, but like, who hires you? Companies? The city? Don't the companies run the cities? Like if a CEO kills someone, can they just wave away the crime? How does all this work? Is that why Sammy is here? Did a CEO kill someone and since Sammy doesn't care about laws, they are trying to get a head start on their escape?" Walters was just rapidly firing out questions, not allowing anyone to answer.

"You are a very curious man," the Justicar muttered.

"I got to know the answers~, I'm not like you Sammy, I live in a world of Black, White, and Gray~, sometimes they're even colors, it's rather beautiful. Like this Question... Why are you after your daughter?" The Justicar's eye's widened, Walters gave a low chuckle, "Why is it that every time I tell someone that I'm a sorcerer they laugh or roll their eyes, is it something on my face, is it the glowing eyes, maybe you just don't believe the words of a human~. Am I too young for you to take me seriously? Or maybe you don't believe in magic~, maybe you just don't like me for telling the galaxy the Asari's dirty little secret?" Walters laughed spinning in his chair, not noticing the dark look the justicar had.

"Walters," I tried to warn him.

Walters didn't seem to care, "Hey, are you hunting those people down as well? I mean they broke Asari law, right? GASP! Unless it's only Council law, sneaky-sneaky, do what I say, not what I do~. How very politician of them," he cheered spinning around only to be stopped by a dangerous Justicar. "Yes, Sammy~?"

"How do you know my daughter?"

"Which one? Falere, Rila, or Morinth?" The smirk on his face was downright cocky. The Justicar actually flinched back as if slapped, "You Asari~, bold as brass, 'we were the first to discover the Citadel, to use FTL, we are the Protheans' chosen ones~'," Nick started laughing like a mad man, "one more time~, my name is Nick Walters~, Sorcerer supreme, handsome, kind. What do you need Sam?" He smiled like he was an old friend you ran into at a bar, and he got the first shots.

"How do you know Morinth?" Samara asked, she was tense, ready to fight.

"Never met her~," he answered leaning back on his chair.

"Don't lie, I'll ask one more time, how do you know Morinth?" The Justicar began to glow with Biotic power, I moved my hand to my pistol.

Nick gave out a long sigh, "What's with everyone threatening me? I guess I can be a bit annoying. And like I told you before Sam, I never met her, but you have~. Do you know what Magic is Sam? Real magic, not what some charlatan does on a street corner, real magic? Power beyond understanding, something as free and strange as a child's imagination~, you can do just about anything with magic, like say," he snapped his fingers, morphing the world around us, "see into someone's memories~."

In front of us was a young Samara drinking and gambling, blurred out Asari dancers were grinding on her lap as she drank something, she was cheering and laughing. The world changed.

We were on a ship, Samara was shooting behind cover killing an Asari with similar armor, probably a merc gang in the middle of a disagreement, as the bullets came to an end, she double-tapped every Asari on the ground before releasing a bunch of scared girls from cages. As she got to the cockpit a bloody collector ship came out of FTL not too far away, but she was close enough to a mass relay to make a lucky escape.

The world changed.

This time she was wearing some kind of dress, humming to herself as she worked over a kitchen, making some kind of breakfast before another Asari came up behind her, they looked like a happy couple.

The world changed again.

We were in a hospital room, Samara looked crushed, like she was given the worst news in the galaxy, next to her was the woman from before but the look she was giving her was anything but loving, it was like she saw Samara like a monster.

The world changed again.

"MOM! MOM! PLEASE! I DON'T WANT TO LIVE HERE! PLEASE HELP ME!" a young Asari child cried as she was being dragged away into some kind of temple, a younger Samara trying not to look.

The world changed again.

We were standing in front of a group of robed Asari in some kind of cave, with a single kneeling robed Asari in the middle of the room.

"From now onwards, you are a Justicar, hunter of evil, justice in an unjust galaxy, a hero to the weak. Rise, Justicar Samara, rise and cleanse the Galaxy of evil," one of the Asari called out holding some kind of headdress, Samara rose and removed her robe showing her blurred nude body to the world, as she received the headdress.

The world changed again.

This time we were in the middle of a massacre, dozens of Asari were lying dead with the justicar in the center, in the distance a ship taking off into the Sky. She was about to give chase only for a baby's cry to catch her attention followed by more children appearing from houses, she gave the ship one last look before focusing back on the children.

The world morphed again, finally returning us to Illium.

That was... trippy. Is that what Walters sees when he meets someone?

"As you can see, I've never met her, but you have. Your daughter is some piece of work by the way," he sighed leaning back on his chair, uncaring about how he just put a woman's life on display for everyone to see.

"W-What are you?" Samara muttered.

"Nope, there isn't a third time, I'm not a broken record, you know who I am." his words rang through the room, shaking my bones.

"Nick Walters," she answered.

"Good to see I haven't completely blown your mind, so how about you sit there and wait for Shepard, I don't think I've ever seen him fail." he swiveled my direction, "So~, how was the talk with Benny~."

Nick is a very strange man, "it was good," I answered. A man I would rather have as a friend then an enemy.

-/-

Shepard POV

This was a long walk for a glass of water, seriously all we wanted was the shipping manifest! But the Eclipse acted like I threatened all their mothers and held their children hostage, all I wanted was a goddamn name! But nope, had to shoot my way through dozens of mercs, and another gunship, turns up out taking your entire ground crew into battle made everything easier, and am now face to face with a wannabe biotic god.

"FEAR ME LESSER CREATURES FOR I AM A MORTAL MADE GOD!" the Volus cried, unleashing a small biotic field around his person. It was sad and funny, but mostly sad, poor guy has been laced with enough drugs to take down a rhino, the fact that he hasn't overdosed is a miracle.

"Hold still, you little butter ball~," Ayla huffed, "Sky, can you please?" Sky grabbed the Biotic God and held him in front of Ayla,

"YOU DARE TOUCH A GOD!? I, WHO MOLDS THE UNIVERSE!?"

"Purification," Ayla chanted, the Volus lit up for a moment before breathing slowly.

"Uh... What's... going on? Who... are you people? Can... you please... let me down?" the Volus wheezed. Ayla nodded and Sky dropped the Volus. "... Thanks." he muttered from the floor.

"I would suggest hiding until we return," Ayla warned.

"Oh... Yes... thank you... be careful... the leader of this Eclipse group... Captain Wasea, should be... in the other room... she is super dangerous... and angry... lots of guards" he waddled into a broom closet before locking it behind him. "Knock three times... on your way back... if you come back." we heard from behind the door.

"At least he's out of the way," Miranda huffed. Mmm, didn't think she would care about a Volus. "Didn't want to trip over his corpse." Never mind.

"Alright she has the answers we are looking for, don't kill her," I ordered.

"Don't worry Shepard, I can get her to talk, but uh, keep your distance~," Ayla answered.

"Is it some sort of spell?" Jacob asked.

"Yeah~, It's called Zone of Truth, you can guess what it does, but you can't aim it, it covers an area of about 50 feet and anyone within it can't lie unless you have extreme mental fortitude, and even then, I will be able to tell that the spell didn't affect you," Ayla explained.

"You do understand that every politician in the galaxy will put a bounty the size of a planet on your head if they know about this right?" Garrus joked, "Nick will be really jealous then~."

"I mean~, wouldn't you be angry if you exposed the Asari for being hypocrites, and only been given such a small bounty, I'm sure you guys have done less for more," Jak huffed, taking position behind some cover, powering up one of her spells before we opened the door.

"Uh, I fought an army of Geth and krogan, I'm worth every cred," Garrus huffed, taking his spot at the rear.

"Really? According to Tali's show, you could barely talk half a sentence before some woman slapped you," Sky asked, stretching her wing to cover me as I opened the door, being met with gunfire and rockets, Sky didn't even flinch, the moment the bullets stopped she dashed forward grabbing an Asari by the leg and used her for as a club smacking another Asari with a shotgun across the room.

"HASTE! HEROIC OFFENSE! HEROIC DEFENSE! HOLY REBOUND!" Ayla called out slowing the world to a crawl and allowing us to dash inside and get behind good cover, well most of us, Grunt didn't hesitate and followed Sky in unleashing a fireball right into a group of Asari commandos.

Magic is cheating, seriously, Ayla's buffs were terrifying, the world around me seemed to slow to a crawl, my weapons had an extra kick, an extra shield that returned all attacks to sender, and gave me the ability to heal like a Krogan. I kind of get why TIM would want humanity to have this power, too bad he's crazy and would most likely kill millions for a single chance to gain an ounce of power.

The fighting only lasted about five minutes, turns out 18 people all buffed by holy magic tend to swipe passed anyone with very little trouble.

"Found her!" Jak called out dragging over the Asari Sky beat with another Asari, "She's still alive... for now anyways, I don't really understand Asari Physiology."

"Heal~," Ayla chanted, getting the Asari to gasp awake coughing out her lungs.

"W-who?" Wasea stuttered.

"ZONE OF TRUTH!" Ayla shouted. We were way too close.

"A little warning~," Kasumi muttered.

"Sorry, Nick taught me not to let the enemy get the first word or they would start monologuing," she answered.

"Right~, The Justicar is looking for the fugitive you smuggled off world, what ship did you use to get her out of Illium?"

"A-a-a-a the AML Demeter!" she choked out, she was clearly trying to lie but basically couldn't, it was a scary thing to see.

"Do you have any evidence?" I asked.

"T-t-tablet, on the desk!" she answered. Ava lifted the tablet, showing the proof.

"Why didn't you just give us the Tablet? All this could have been avoided," I asked.

"We helped an A-a-ardat-yakshi, whe-when the Justicar arrived w-we know we were in trouble, they show no mercy," she stuttered.

"What's an Ardat-Yakshi?" I asked.

"Abominations!" she growled. Ayla gave the Asari her full attention, "A failure of Asari! When they meld, they kill their partner and increase their power. They are mostly myths, but there are ancient rules, to help one is death."

"Mmm, that's not good," I sighed, "let's just get this data to Samara."

"BIND!" Ayla shouted as pure light wrapped around Wasea, "Sky?" Not hesitating she lifted the Asari over her shoulder like a sack of potatoes. "You're under arrest."

"... you killed all my sisters, why didn't you arrest them?" Wasea hissed.

"Because you are an idiot. All we wanted was the name of the Demeter, you decided to attack us. You ordered your 'sisters' into the meat grinder. Don't get angry at us because you thought we were easy prey," Ayla huffed.

"Wait!" Miranda called out.

We lifted our guns and got into cover thinking we were about to get ambushed. Only for nothing to happen. "What? What did you see!?" I asked, my head on a swivel.

"Why did Walters agree to help us?" She asked the group.

"You can't be serious," I growled, "THIS! THIS IS WHY I CAN'T TRUST YOU. You trust no one."

Jak patted my shoulder, "Ayla wanted to help, that's all, she thought this was a good way to escape our humdrum routine and help people in need." she answered with a shrug, "Win-win."

"That's it? You wanted to help?" Miranda huffed.

"Yep~, Sometimes that's all people need to do something, the want to help. You seemed disappointed. Did you want Nick to be an evil dimension-hopping villain that took over galaxies for fun?" Jak asked.

"No. Not in so many words. Why does he hate me?" Miranda asked.

"Hate you? Nick doesn't hate you. Trust me you would know if Nick hated you," Sky answered.

"Then why is he so antagonistic? Surely, we would work better if we got along!?" ah, even she had a breaking point.

Sky blinked at her, "Get along with what? Miranda, you are not even a real person," Miranda flinched back as if struck.

"That's going too far!" Jacob interrupted.

"Really, now it's too far? Not when she took advantage of a magical truth serum?" Ava sighed, "In the end Sky is right, who are you, Miranda? What are your goals, not Cerberus's, not the Illusive man's, Your's? Have you even given it any thought about what's going on? You must have realized by now that you have been replaced?"

"What are you talking about?" Miranda looked lost.

Ava rolled her eyes, "The Illusive man has sent you on a suicide mission, he knew you would most likely die, he used you as a disposable mook, and you just nodded along, like that was okay. Nick doesn't hate you, there isn't anything to hate. You are someone's tool and only crazy people hate tools. He's annoyed that the Illusive Man is using a tool to tell him what to do."

"I'm not a tool," She hissed.

Nat huffed, "Donney is trying to be a mixologist, when not at work in the Engine Bay or working with the other engineers on the Puma X-7, he's at the bar learning to create and serve drinks. Gabby loves spaceship engines, she is trying to name the new Hyperdrive engine after herself, but of course, she is being contested by Lia, who wants it to be named after a new element. Rolson worries for his family due to them being in the Terminus, but his bitch mother-in-law is getting in the way of moving them to safety. Goldstein and Hawthorne have been taking lessons from Gardner on cooking to help him in the kitchen, talking about opening a restaurant. Hadley has been coming down to train in hand-to-hand combat with Nick because he feels helpless in a team filled with elite fighters. Matthews is excited about his meeting with the Consort in about two months. Burt-"

"What does this have to do with anything!?" Miranda interrupted her.

Nat sighed, "They have goals, dreams, hopes, Cerberus isn't their life, it's a means to an end, an end to the Reapers, and a beginning to their new lives. You... don't, this is it, this is as far as you can see, The Illusive man points, you do. What do you do all day?"

She twisted at the question, "I-I-I make sure my reports to the Illusive man are perfect." It looked like someone tore the words out of her mouth.

"If you want Nick to listen to you, and I mean really listen, you need to ask yourself the real questions. WHO ARE YOU!? AND WHAT DO YOU WANT!?" Nat ordered she may have only been five feet, but her questions carried enough weight to crush a man. Not even the Ice Queen that was Miranda could just scoff away their answer, she was shaking, it took me a moment to realize why, the Zone of Truth was trying to make her tell her truth, but she didn't even know her truth. Nat didn't care for her answer, she just left, followed by the rest of her crew, and finally followed by everyone else leaving her and myself behind.

"Did you find the answers you wanted?" I asked.

"... No," she muttered. "Do you hate me Shepard, for taking you from your final resting place?"

"... No," I answered, "As much as I hate to say it, you were right, people need me, I'm not sure for how long, or every step of the way, but I'm working on it."

"... Shepard, I need your help." I know for a fact that Miranda was a honeypot, I would have to be deaf and blind not to see it, but the look she was giving me couldn't be faked.

"... let's talk back in the ship. come on let's get back to the group." It never gets easier, does it?

-/-

It took us about 30 minutes to get back to the police station, turns out not being shot at tends to make things go faster. We turned out to arrive right in the middle of Storytime.

"And there she was," Nick hissed, the inside of the station looked to be an underground cavern with lava walls lighting up the dark and ancient broken statues. Not too far away was a bridge that led across a gorge to an impressive underground fortress, before a humongous dragon came down on the bridge. I think it was bigger than Sky and Astral, it gave a roar of purple flames and lightning, vibrating the cave around us, "The Archdemon," he staged whispered. It turned to look at us, it was... wrong. It spread its putrid wings and took off. "We now know the face of our enemy's leader, and she was ugly. But that's enough story time~, Shepard's back."

"WHAT!?" the krogan in Bain's crew yelled, "What about the fortress!?"

"And the Anvil?" the turian woman asked.

"What about choosing the new king!?" Bain asked. "You can't just stop there!?"

Nick laughed, "I thought of making an animated series of my adventure, but the Blight was still too fresh for Ferelden, I might make one here though." he shrugged, before turning to me, "So you got what you needed for Lady Strawberry over here?" Nick pointed to the Justicar.

"Yes," I turned to Samara, "the ship you're looking for was the AML Demeter left two days ago," Ava passed her the tablet, "It also has Pitne For's smuggling list if that means anything, here," I told detective Anaya.

"It does," Anaya answered looking over the list, "and it comes with a reward," she sent me 4,200 credits, I didn't need it, but Tali still had my money, so I could use this to buy some more fish, that automated fish feeder cost over 25 thousand credits!? ridiculous I say! I'll just have Garrus make me one, he said he had a great idea for fish protection... or was it fish propulsion? It had something to do with fish, I need to stop eating, painting, and talking at the same time.

"And we have Wasea and the Asari that killed Duki Kir," I pointed to Sky who was holding both Asari, before dropping them to the floor, "I have her confessing on tape." I transferred the audio file.

"Damn, they weren't kidding about you spectres, this would have taken me months of report filing before I would have been given permission to snoop through the files. Thanks."

"Shepard, you have impressed me, you have filled your end of the bargain, and I will fulfill mine." she turned and gave Anaya a small bow, "I will be leaving post haste Detective Anaya, I believe that will satisfy your superiors."

Anaya bowed back, "You are free to go, Justicar. It was an honor to have you at my station... and that you didn't kill me."

"Anaya please don't thank people for not killing you~," Nick groaned. "It makes you look weak~."

"She is a Justicar, I 'am' weak in this situation," She drawled.

"Yeah~, but she doesn't need to know that, you are the police~, you are the one keeping people safe, you have an image to uphold, if the people see you bowing to some woman in a ridiculous strawberry outfit, they aren't going to take you seriously later," Nick huffed.

"This is top-of-the-line Asari armor," Samara interrupted.

"You look like a fruit, and not a homosexual, like a literal walking fruit, with a boob window. Who made this armor!? I am getting angry again! Gods damnit, that's something to take on a date when you want to score, not to a battlefield!" Nick roared.

"Okay-okay~, that's enough for one day~, let's go eat ice cream and laugh at some TV," Jak pushed him out the door, "Sorry about him~, he tends to take his armor seriously~."

"IT DOESN'T EVEN HAVE SHOULDER CANNONS OR A JETPACK!" he screamed as he was escorted out. I am looking forward to my new armor.

"Your friend is... very strange," Samara pointed out.

"Most people who join suicide missions tend to have a few screws loose," I shrugged. "Are you ready to go?"

"I must first be sworn to your service so that I am never forced to choose between your orders or the Code." She took a deep breath and kneeled before me. It was super awkward, no one's ever kneeled to me, Anaya was super impressed though, so that was something. "By the Code, I will serve you, Shepard. Your choices are my choices, your morals are my morals, your wishes are my Code." She then gave off a tiny Biotic pulse before standing back up.

I looked over to Ayla, "What does that mean? Did she somehow deputize herself? I don't think that's how that works, I had to sign a contract."

"No, I think she just did a little light show and made an Oath, there was no Godly pact, it's more of a promise really~," she flipped through her book, looking for answers.

"That was the 3rd oath of Subsumation, it is not to be taken lightly," Samara pointed out.

"Oh! Yes! I didn't mean to make it sound like it wasn't, it's just that we were thinking of it in the cosmic sense, like if we needed to talk with our godly patron before we cause a godly incident," Ayla explained, not looking up from her book. "Mmm, okay, so~, we should be fine~. Welcome to the Normandy~." she gave Samara a little bow, before running after the rest of the crew.

"... I'm beginning to think your crew is very... different."

"You don't know the half of it," I sighed.

-/-

A/N: another chapter down, best cut it off here, I have another 3,000 words that I moved to the next chapter.

I sometimes find it hard to find interesting ways on spicing up missions. Some are just straight to the point like Samara's, 'Find the ship's name', what do I do with that? Where can I get inspiration?

I have a few ideas on Thane's recruitment mission, I mean seriously, trying to find an assassin as they hunt their target, I don't even have to use a building! There are dozens of movies I've watched that I can take inspiration from!

Sorry, didn't mean to rant just got a bit of writer's block trying to make it more interesting, so instead I made it less about the mission and more about the people on the mission.

I read a review that corrected me on the time it took for the Thanix cannon to fire, and of course, they were correct, the Thanix cannon fires every 10 to 15 seconds not 10 minutes, but then I idea flashed through the loose collection of marbles that roll inside this empty thing I call a head, and thought... what if... that's why Garrus is doing calibrations every hour of the day!? To lower the time to fire! And then I got more ideas! What if the ship's upgrades have the crew interacting, bringing them together at the same time! YESSSS! Why go back and correct a mistake when I can use it to make my subpar writing that little bit better!?

Silver lining people!

Anyways~, got a new Quarian, expanded Zaeed's backstory a bit, Gave Nick a bounty, had some fun with what would happen when trading food with other species, and am now on Illium, I have a few ideas, let's see if any of them make it on paper.

Review if ya want~

I also have a DeviantArt page link in my bio where I post some drawings I make of the story

thanks for coming by~